UrbanBound Raises $8.5 Million To Transform The Way Companies Relocate Their Employees

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UrbanBound is one of the leading providers of Relocation Management Software. UrbanBound empowers companies to administer, track, and optimize relocation benefits, while providing a tailored employee experience. With its comprehensive and intuitive platform, corporations can forecast and contain relocation costs, build smarter policies, and distribute better benefits. Below is our interview with Michael Krasman, CEO and Co-founder of UrbanBound:

Q: Michael, how would you describe UrbanBound in your own words?

A: UrbanBound is transforming the way companies relocate their employees. When it comes to corporate relocation, executives get the white-glove treatment while entry and mid-level employees are often left with just a check and a handshake —- creating a huge missed opportunity for both companies and their transferring employees. With UrbanBound’s Relocation Management Software, companies are empowered with tech-driven guidance and support that allows them to provide relocation benefits to all employees and do so affordably. Our policy-driven technology gives transferees a better understanding of their benefits, provides them with guided support and helps them navigate their decision-making in the platform.

Moving to a new city and starting a new job are two of the most stressful life events, and when relocating for a new job they both happen simultaneously. We developed a technology solution that makes the relocation process easier for both companies and their transferring employees. UrbanBound provides companies with the right tools to better support their employees throughout the entire relocation process, beginning with creating the right relocation policy all the way to preparing them for their first day in their new home as well as their new office.

Q: Can you give us more insights into your solutions?

A: Many companies don’t have the in-house knowledge to manage all the complexities involved with an employee relocation. With UrbanBound’s software, they are equipped with the tools and resources needed to create robust relocation policies, distribute benefits internally and monitor progress. In some cases, the tax implications of relocation policies are overlooked, losing value for both companies and their transferee. Realizing this, we enhanced our platform with the ability to let companies structure their own policies by leveraging technology and allow UrbanBound to administer relocation benefits directly with suppliers.

For the relocating employee, UrbanBound takes the stress out of moving, acting as the control center to manage all aspects of the relocation process, ensuring every item is accounted for. Based on the employee’s relocation policy and specific needs, UrbanBound creates a tailored experience to help the relocating employee plan and execute their move by providing them with guidance on their relocation policy, help with understanding their benefit and tech-driven support throughout the whole process.

To help with the logistics of the move, UrbanBound provides the relocating employees with valuable moving advice and support, hyperlocal content, and data sourced from their co-workers to help them get acclimated to their new area and new workplace. By aggregating and visualizing data from current employees through our software, UrbanBound allows transferees to not only learn about their destination through the experience and advice of their soon-to-be colleagues, but also learn about the people they will work with in their new office. Additionally, employees are connected to our vetted supplier network composed of trusted vendors that will deliver the necessary services to ensure a smooth transition.

Q: What are the main benefits of using UrbanBound’s solutions? How is it different than existing solutions?

A: Generally, the $60 billion global relocation market has not seen a lot of dramatic technological advancements and the industry is ripe for disruption and innovation. By being one of the first providers of technology to an industry that has, for the most part, remained largely manual and offline, we are filling a significant technology void. By bringing a tech-enabled solution to the largely offline corporate relocation process, UrbanBound ensures companies will generate a significant ROI while providing a tailored and successful relocation experience for their employees.

Bringing relocation online allows visibility into the process and empowers companies with real-time data, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective approach to relocation management. For many employers, offering existing relocation options to the majority of their workforce is not feasible due to the extremely high cost of traditional relocation benefits programs.

By utilizing UrbanBound’s Relocation Management Software, companies have the ability to provide relocating employees with technology driven guidance and support to help them optimize their relocation benefits and manage a successful relocation. Furthermore, employers are able to leverage UrbanBound’s collective expertise to provide a better relocation experience and ensure a seamless move — all while saving the employee and the employer considerable time and money.

Q: You’ve recently announced a $8.5 million series B funding round; what are your plans?

A: With our latest round of funding, we will be focusing on 3 key areas. First, we are aggressively accelerating the pace of innovation and product development based on the incredible feedback that we’ve been receiving from our clients. There are many features that they are asking for and we are excited to accelerate the tempo that these features can be delivered. Second, we are broadening our sales effort and growing our team in our new Chicago office. Specifically, hiring salespeople and developers and reinforcing our sales pipeline. Third, we are going to continue expansion of an already impressive client base and look forward to working with global industry leaders to enhance their corporate relocation programs.

Q: How would you convince the reader to start using UrbanBound?

A: Companies are faced with the challenge of finding top talent, but the best candidates aren’t always found in their backyard. A strong relocation benefit allows them to cast the widest net during the hiring process. By incorporating UrbanBound’s technology into their relocation strategies, an employer can ensure a smooth relocation experience and tip the scale for a hesitant employee that may not want to deal with the headache of moving. For example, top tech companies are using this strategy to their advantage, reining in top talent to staff their teams.

On the other hand, employers frequently relocate current employees to optimize their skills and strategically fill key positions (or skill gaps) in different markets or in newly opened office locations. Most likely, these employees are top players at the company and would be a major loss for the company if they decided to leave after a negative relocation experience. We often see that a relocated employee’s perceived job satisfaction may ultimately be decided by the success or failure of their relocation. Equipping relocating employees with technology can help them more easily prepare for and manage their relocation and allows them to make smart, cost-effective relocation decisions ultimately resulting in a much better experience.

Furthermore, most people are accustomed to using online tools to handle many of their tasks, whether it’s booking travel or getting a cab, and relocation is no exception. Employees are drawn to companies that take advantage of cutting-edge and forward-thinking approaches. By utilizing UrbanBound’s software, employers gain a competitive advantage by being able to offer tech-enabled support to their relocating employees, while dramatically cutting down time and costs by using technology to streamline the process.

When companies can alleviate the headache of moving with relocation technology, employees are not only more prepared to begin onboarding for their new role, but get a clear sense of how their company is supporting them. Relocation technology is win-win for both companies and their relocating employees.

Last Updated on September 3, 2016

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