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Workplace productivity software developer Raycast has raised US$30 million in funding
UK-based Raycast has raised a Series B funding round for its platform. The developer of the app launch solution has received US$30 million in funding, bringing the total investment in the project to more than US$45 million.
Raycast’s platform is designed to increase productivity and minimise distractions when working with applications. It helps users quickly switch between programmes without completely leaving the current context, helping them maintain high productivity.
Solution relevance
The innovation, development, and growth of technology products have a dual impact. On the one hand, such solutions aim to simplify life and make work more efficient. On the other hand, they complicate professional activities and make them more fragmented.
Most work is done using computers and a multitude of programs. As a result, employees have to constantly switch between different applications. This leads to regular stress, which builds up and leads to mental overload, which reduces overall productivity.
Harvard Business Review conducted a survey of employees at Fortune 500 companies. The results were as follows:
- switching between tools and different contexts takes about 2 seconds;
- an office worker does this about 1,200 times a day;
- the equivalent of five five-day working weeks per year;
- switching between tasks takes up 9% of all working time.
These statistics suggest that using multiple tools negatively impacts productivity. It also makes it difficult to focus, leading to tension and increased fatigue.
The Raycast platform focuses on eliminating the need for constant switching. It helps avoid digital fragmentation and maintains a state of productive flow while working. With this solution, users can interact with different applications without having to switch from one application to another entirely.
Raycast provides functionality with 150 open-source extensions. These allow users to work fully with services such as GitHub, Notion and Zoom. They can perform tasks in these applications without losing productivity or being distracted by total immersion in each application.
According to Raycast’s Thomas Paul Mann, the platform’s main goal is to change the way users interact with applications. The platform allows the user to maintain a state of flow, which is essential for productive work. At the same time, a person can use a large number of services and applications simultaneously. Using Raycast, it is possible to send messages, view emails, and perform other actions without opening applications.