Metta Space is a deep tech B2B platform that helps companies tackle sexual harassment. We aim to bring a proactive, tech-driven solution that puts preventative measures at the forefront of our 3 technologies that includes:
- A highly secure reporting application for employees
- A case management system for companies to keep track of report and communicate with employees through in-app messaging
- An NLP plugin to detect sexual harassment in real-time through workplace communications.
Current Status
We have an MVP developed, which is being tested by two pilot projects, and are currently in the process of developing the beta version of our reporting application and the MVP of our case management system.
At the same time we are collecting data for the development of the algorithm.
Market
Sexual harassment is an ethical, financial and legal issue for companies. As a B2B platform, Metta Space is entering a highly scalable market opportunity in which EU companies are compelled to act towards harassment-free workplaces due to the new EU Directive 2019/1937. With this new law, alongside the continued unearthing of financial costs linked directly to sexual harassment and an increased social push towards better workplaces post-COVID-19, Metta Space aims to bring a proactive, tech-driven solution that puts preventative measures at the forefront.
Problem or Opportunity
Sexual harassment is an ethical, financial and legal problem for companies. Let’s look at the numbers:
- 60% of women and a third of all men have experienced sexual harassment at work but 99.8% never report it. In total, within the EU alone, 220 million individuals (both men and women) are affected by sexual harassment at work each year.
- $6 million are lost per Fortune 500 company per year, directly linked to the hidden costs of sexual harassment, such as an increase in staff turnover, absenteeism and decrease in managerial time.
- With the new EU Directive 2019/1937, companies will be penalised if they do not have a whistleblowing reporting system for workplace misconduct.
Solution (product or service)
Metta Space is a Deep Tech, B2B platform on a mission to eradicate sexual harassment from the workplace. Our goal is to work towards UNSDGs 5 (Gender Equality) and 8 (Decent Work) through our tech-driven solution.
We aim to create a triangle of trust between the company, their employees and Metta Space. In contrast to our competitors, our focus on a proactive approach to the prevention of sexual harassment is enabled through our four main principles:
- A highly secure reporting application for employees
- A case management system for companies to keep track of report and communicate with employees through in-app messaging
- An NLP plugin to detect sexual harassment in real-time through workplace communications.
Competitors
There are a couple of players in the US and UK addressing this problem, but none in central/southern Europe, which is the area we're targeting.
Our main competitors are reporting apps, such as #NotMe, Speakfully and Vault. Other competitors include HR tools, such as CultureAmp or TINYpulse.
Advantages or differentiators
Our platform takes a proactive, tech-driven approach to the issue, seeing that we want to help the company as a whole and be more preventative about sexual harassment. Additionally, our creation of the NLP algorithm sets us apart.
Money will be spent on
We want to ensure our product is as efficient, secure and well-rounded as possible.
Our investment would be spent on three main aspects: product development, branding and consulting.
For the product development, we are aiming to hire two more software developers, a cloud engineer, a UX/UI designer and a plug-in developer.
For the branding aspect we want to hire a marketing lead and continue consulting for our branding.
Finally, one key aspect of our platform is data security, privacy and compliance. We want to ensure that the companies' and their employees' data is secure and also want to maintain trust and transparency. Our consulting budget will be spent on cybersecurity, data privacy and compliance.
We participated in IE Venture Lab in July 2020 (runner-ups), were part of Startup Wise Guys' pre-accelerator (October-November 2020) and won second place in the IE Women in Business' pitch competition (November 2020).
Won the competition and other awards
We participated in IE Venture Lab in July 2020 (runner-ups), were part of Startup Wise Guys' pre-accelerator (October-November 2020) and won second place in the IE Women in Business' pitch competition (November 2020).
