HalloSophia transforms the consulting industry by making consulting services digitally accessible for companies of all sizes at a transparent fixed price. The highlight of HalloSophia is that it doesn’t just provide consultants, but also makes the entire consulting process possible, including booking, holding the consulting sessions and payment, directly via the platform. The vision convinced not only the first satisfied customers, but also renowned investors from Upper Austria, including the industrial families Greiner, Doppler, Kubinger and Deschka. With the last tranche of the seed investment, the B2B partner program will now be expanded, the product further optimized and the founding team strengthened with additional executives.
Austrian unicorn GoStudent has already achieved for students what the team around Markus Waghubinger and Johannes Mayer has planned for entrepreneurs: to become the largest consulting platform in Europe. This vision and, above all, the need for digitization in management consulting at a level we already know in other industries, such as booking hotel rooms or flights, are also seen by some well-known investors and business angels from Upper Austria. The industrialist families Greiner, Doppler, Kubinger and Deschka support the path of the young company with locations in Linz and Vienna, as do Blockpit founder Florian Wimmer, and also Florian Huber and Gert Weidinger, who themselves have their professional backgrounds in the consulting industry.
From pandemic project to pioneer of the digital consulting industry
What started as a crisis solution in 2020 and won all the prizes of the European Commission (incl. the EUvsVirus Hackathon) right in the idea phase is now a pioneer and trailblazer of the “new normal of business”, as the founders from Linz themselves perceive their role in a digital consulting industry. HalloSophia offers fast, convenient access to external expertise and any expert knowledge that decision-makers need on an ongoing basis in their everyday entrepreneurial lives and do not receive individually through general lectures or blog posts.
“Unique is the approach of complete transparency, on HalloSophia one can find consulting offers with a complete description of the scope of services at a fixed price. Instead of only being able to make a request for a competence provider, one can buy and process the desired consulting right away online. We already offer several hundred consulting packages from law and taxes to marketing, our clients are 100% satisfied with them so far and would like to have even more offers at this standard. We are therefore striving to make all expert knowledge conveniently accessible in the long term,” Co-founder Markus Waghubinger is convinced of the innovation and the benefits for users.
Online focus consulting for B2B partners: HalloSophia helps consulting firms tap into digitally affine target groups
Unlike other consulting platforms, HalloSophia focuses on the individual exchange of knowledge and not on outsourcing to project consultants or freelancers, but on the optimally prepared conversation with a laser-sharp focus on the client’s current problem in order to be able to apply external knowledge to their own decisions. According to the company, clients have so far been very satisfied with the focus consultations they have consumed so far, but at the current time they find only some of the offers on the HalloSophia marketplace that they would like to book at the same standard. That’s why HalloSophia is now launching a B2B partner program with consulting firms of all kinds, in order to create the desired offer together with established companies that already have the competence carriers in-house in their companies and can establish online focus consulting as an additional offer with HalloSophia itself. This can now be offered on the company’s own portal and after the offer has been reviewed on HalloSophia, the open marketplace.
The team around HalloSophia has already been able to win well-known consulting firms, but also scaleups for pilot programs, so that they can expand their offering with digitalized focus consulting.
In addition to the mission of making the best and most affordable consulting services available to startups, SMEs and self-employed persons, HalloSophia’s partner program also enables companies to handle their consulting-based existing business completely digitally and thus easily tap into a new, digitally affine target group.
The payment of the last tranche of the seed investment totaling EUR 1.4 million is based on a recent positive evaluation of the business model by the existing investors. The successful completion of the seed financing demonstrates the belief in the vision and the team of HalloSophia and is a sign of high growth potential in the coming years.
Statements from investors:
“Through competent consulting, companies can grow faster, avoid mistakes and focus on the really important things in their business through professional support. Digital consulting, as now developed by HalloSophia, is the future in the consulting industry,” says Dr. Bernd Zierhut, GF Doppler Beteiligungs GmbH.
“Team, business model and learning curve at HalloSophia have convinced me again and again. Therefore, it was only logical to continue investing,” says Stephan Kubinger, GF IFN Beteiligungs GmbH.
“I was impressed by the enthusiasm and innovation of the HalloSophia team right from the start. Since in the B2B sector as a whole only 5-10% of services have been digitized so far and HalloSophia perfectly uses the technical infrastructure created by digitization to drive its own technological innovations, above all to offer the perfect all-in-one platform for the consulting industry, I see enormous potential for the young company,” says Silke Greiner, GF A&S Beteiligungsgesellschaft
About HalloSophia:
HalloSophia is an innovative online platform that makes consulting services from top consultants affordable and digitally available at a transparent fixed price for startups, SMEs, self-employed and companies of all sizes. The approach of complete transparency is unique, whereby consulting offers with a complete description of the scope of services at a fixed price can be booked and processed immediately online. Hello Sophia comes from “Hello, Sophisticated Advisor” and is intended to be the fastest way to competent consulting in digital focus consulting units, “Micro Advisory Sessions”. The startup, which is headquartered in Linz and has a location in Vienna, has so far raised EUR 1.4 million in seed investment from investors and business angels.
Website: hallosophia.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sophiaadvisory
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Twitter: @sophiaadvisory
