How Beekeeper Supports Millions of Frontline Employees

Celebrating 15 years of the Top100 Swiss Startup Award, we spotlight the pioneers who shaped their industries. Among them is Beekeeper, ranked in the Top100 Swiss Startups, a Venture Leaders alumnus, and a Venture Kick funding recipient. From its Swiss roots, Beekeeper has grown into a global platform that connects employees, streamlines tasks, and automates workflows. Co-founder and CEO Cristian Grossmann shares how the company has expanded and redefined how frontline teams get work done.

As Top100 celebrates its 15th anniversary, Beekeeper demonstrates how a Swiss startup can evolve from an early experiment in the consumer space — originally conceived as a dating app — into a global workforce platform that empowers frontline teams. By connecting employees, streamlining tasks, and automating workflows, Beekeeper has changed the way operational efficiency works. In July 2025, the company was acquired by LumApps for USD 1 billion, standing as a landmark exit for Swiss tech.

Cristian Grossmann, co-founder & CEO of Beekeeper

From flirting app to frontline platform: how did it all begin?

Beekeeper actually started as an anonymous flirting app called Blicklick. We loved the idea, but it quickly became clear that the combination of flirting and anonymity did not really work. The first big lesson for us was: do not fall in love with the idea, focus on the user. 
 
So we shifted gears and turned it into a general communication platform for students. Since we were our own users, we had a clear sense of how such a product should be built. With some crazy guerrilla marketing tactics, we managed to grow it into Zurich’s main student platform, called Spocal (short for Speak Local). Engagement was strong, but monetization was difficult. The obvious route was to sell ads, which led us to our first corporate contact: the HR leader at Swissôtel.

"Focus on a real customer problem."

At the time, Swissôtel was merging with Fairmont and Raffles and was looking for ways to support this process through better communication. That is when we discovered a much bigger opportunity: most frontline businesses still relied on bulletin boards or in-person meetings to reach their employees, far from effective or scalable, especially during a merger. 
 
In that moment, we had some luck: we had already built a solution and stumbled upon a problem perfectly suited for it. Not the usual order of things, but it worked. More importantly, we quickly realized this was not just a Swissôtel problem. It was a challenge shared by countless frontline companies worldwide. The pain was real, the pain was big, and our solution could scale.

What was your first rough prototype like, and how did it set the stage for what followed?

As I mentioned, the very first version of Beekeeper wasn’t built from scratch, it was actually an adaptation of our student platform, Spocal. Many features still reflected that audience. For example, we had an “anonymous mode” that let users post content under fruit name pseudonyms, a fun idea for students, but one that obviously didn’t translate well in an enterprise context.

"Treat fundraising as a partnership, almost like a marriage."
 

Which milestones defined Beekeeper’s journey into working with international companies?

It actually started with our very first customers. The Swissôtel, Fairmont, and Raffles group had more than 120 hotels across 35 countries. That gave us an immediate international footprint and a real jump start. From there, we focused on scaling in the DACH market first, before expanding into the US and then other regions.

What is something that helped you raise more effectively?

One piece of advice I wish I had known earlier: raise as much as needed, but as little as possible. It is tempting to take more when the opportunity arises, but every round comes with dilution and higher expectations. Be disciplined and clear about what you need to reach the next meaningful milestone. 
 
And perhaps the most important lesson: treat fundraising as a partnership, almost like a marriage. You’re in it together for the good and the bad days—and there will be bad days. That’s why it’s critical to pick investors who share your long-term vision and values, not just those chasing short-term success. The right partners will support you beyond capital, bringing credibility, introductions, and guidance when you need it most.

What are three mistake you made that others should avoid while getting started with your startup?

>  Falling in love with the idea instead of the problem.
>  Underestimating the sales cycle in traditional industries.
>  Trying to do too much at once.

What was the toughest barrier when convincing hospitality or manufacturing to adopt your tech?

For many of our customers, we were the first software solution ever introduced to their frontline workers. That meant we were not just selling a product, we were creating a new category. The toughest part was that there was no assigned budget for this kind of technology yet. We had to educate decision-makers on why connecting their frontline mattered and prove the value before a single dollar could be allocated.

Beekeeper: Redefining how frontline workers connect, collaborate, and succeed

How has Beekeeper redefined engagement with frontline workers?

We believe frontline teams should have everything they need to do their best work so that employees thrive and businesses succeed. Too often, they have relied on bulletin boards, paper processes, or word-of-mouth updates while carrying the bulk of operational responsibility.

Beekeeper turns that gap into opportunity. By centralizing shift planning, tasks, documents, and real-time communication, our platform makes work easier, more efficient, and more rewarding.

With a growing shortage of skilled workers, simplifying and connecting daily workflows strengthens loyalty, boosts job satisfaction, and helps companies retain talent. Frontline employees are driving digital transformation from the ground up, and by giving them mobile-first tools, businesses unlock new levels of engagement and productivity. That’s how Beekeeper is redefining frontline work.

With the merger with LumApps, how do you see the future of workplace communication over the next decade?

With the merger with LumApps, we continue to uphold our original purpose: making work easier for frontline employees. Now, that vision expands. 
 
Together, Beekeeper and LumApps form a European unicorn, combining Swiss engineering with global scale to set new standards for modern workplace technology. Today, we support more than 2,000 customers, reach over 7 million users worldwide, and bring together 600 passionate team members from both companies.

Which single decision most influenced Beekeeper’s transformation into a global platform?

Focusing on a real customer problem that could scale. Many startups are passionate about their solution but do not fully understand the problem they aim to solve. For us, it was the opposite. Once we realized the scale of the challenge frontline workers face, being disconnected from the information they need to do their jobs, we doubled down on solving it.