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Portfolio – Feb 27, 2023

Why did we invest in time management application Morgen.so?

Last summer, the Vi Partners technology team led a pre-seed round in Morgen.so. We are delighted to partner with a groundbreaking time management application built by a stellar team that has the ambition to transform how knowledge workers deal with their time, boost their productivity while improving their worklife balance and overall wellbeing.  

What is Morgen.so? 

Morgen.so is a spin off SaaS company from ETH Zurich. It provides a simple yet effective calendar interface for task planning and tracking, scheduling, and event management. The Morgen app is available across platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux), with mobile apps currently in Beta. 

A talented team with a grand vision for all knowledge workers 

Morgen has an impressive tandem of leaders, both graduated from ETH Zurich and close friends: 

  • David the CEO was leading teams of software and Machine learning at Cisco. 

  • Marco the CTO completed his PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the lab of ETHZ professor Markus Gross, who is also the Chief Scientist at the Walt Disney studios and a Morgen co-founder and advisor. 

Their ambition is to empower users to take back control of their time: to master it instead of enduring it. Their vision is to help their users to free billions of hours of “garbage time” by building automatic routines learning from users’ behavior that automatically generate suggestions, allowing them more time to think and collaborate with their colleagues. 

A unique value proposition in a gigantic market opportunity 

Morgen targets knowledge workers. Knowledge workers are people whose job is to “think for a living” (programmers, architects, accountants, lawyers, sales people). For these professionals, time is an essential resource. Gartner estimates the number of knowledge workers at over 100 million in the U.S. and over 1 billion globally. This is an exceptional opportunity for Morgen. Today, most knowledge workers still use the default apps provided by Microsoft (Outlook) or Google (Calendar) whose features are limited and have limited compatibility with each other. 

The current Morgen clients are typically freelancers serving multiple clients and knowledge workers concerned with improving their productivity and wellbeing, usually involved in smaller size companies where they have freedom over the tools they can use. 

Morgen is very easy to test, adopt and fall in love with. At Vi Partners many of us use Morgen daily. Cyrill loves the multi-calendar-in-one-interface approach while Olivier (who led the investment in Morgen) is a fan of the super convenient personalised scheduling link. For him, no more open calendar (“book me whenever you want”) which create stressful back-to-back meetings days, but for each contact he can select in a few seconds the slots that work best for him, depending on the level of urgency of the meeting to be organised, and time slots get dynamically updated. 

Wellbeing is a core value proposition of the Morgen app 

By effectively managing their time, knowledge workers can: 

  • eliminate distractions and improve focus on their most important tasks, leading to better results and personal satisfaction. 

  • better prioritize, ensuring that they allocate their time to the most important and impactful activities. 

  • avoid feeling overwhelmed and reduce their stress levels. 

We witness that knowledge workers are increasingly mindful of their wellbeing, while their employers are willing to support employees in this quest and invest in this space while benefiting from more productive employees. Indeed studies have found that time management can enhance job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing (1), as well as the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity (2).

At ViPartners, we are passionate about the use of AI and data to increase talent productivity and wellbeing. We are convinced that Morgen’s innovative approach to time management will empower workers to take control of their time, better organise all aspects of their professional and personal lives in line with what matters most to them. 

About Vi Partners 

Vi Partners is the longest-established Swiss Venture Capital firm. For more than 20 years, Vi Partners has been supporting innovative Technology and Healthcare companies, investing over CHF 330m in 66 startups. VI Partners-managed funds are backed by Switzerland’s most visible companies and institutions, including ETH Zurich, ABB, Buhler, Credit Suisse, Hilti, McKinsey, Nestlé, Schindler, Sulzer, Suva and ZKB as well as the European Investment Fund and many other institutional investors.  

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