Theatro raises $5 million in Series A funding from Khosla Ventures

Theatro, the developer of voice controlled wearable communications devices for hourly workers in the retail, hospitality and manufacturing market segments, announced today that it has closed a $5 million investment from Khosla Ventures in a Series A round. Chris Todd is the CEO of the company and Ravi Shankar Kumar is the CTO/SVP of engineering. Theatro is head quartered in Dallas, Texas with a development center in Bangalore. The company was founded by after securing early backing from an “A-list” of angel investors, this round brings the total investment in Theatro to $8.8 million. Ben Ling, investment partner at Khosla Ventures, who served in senior operating roles at Google, YouTube and Facebook, led the investment and has joined Theatro’s board of directors. The capital will be used to help Theatro aggressively expand its sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate product innovation.

Their “Heads-Up and Hands Free” mobile communications and management solution is delivered over the in-store WiFi to every hourly employee. The solution provides management with insights to increase sales associate productivity, conversion rates and store profitability while enabling hourly employees access to the information they need to provide a better level of customer service. Improving workforce productivity and customer satisfaction is at the heart of Theatro’s suite of products which they believe is a major challenge for most retailers. “We are excited to work with Theatro during their next phase of growth as they roll out the service to retailers across the nation,” says Ling. "Hourly employees are one of today’s most valuable workforces, and they could be more effective and productive with innovative technology tools available to them,” says Chris.

Theatro was founded in 2012 by Chris Todd, Ravi Shankar Kumar, Patrick Fitzgerald and Guy VanBuskirk. They opened a research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore, India in February of 2014. The Series A financing builds on the continued momentum of the company since announcing the commercial availability of their SaaS offering in December 2013. The company has not disclosed the names of clients but claims to be rapidly growing with a notable list of national retail clients.

Website; Theatro