Start-up Society #40: Black History Month Series — The HR Tech Issue
Keeping the American Dream Alive
Welcome to the 40th edition of Start-up Society! This is a weekly blog that promotes nationwide entrepreneurship and highlights some of the most exciting start-ups in the country striving to keep the American Dream alive.
Make sure you check out the previous issue, if you have not already, here!
In honor of Black History Month, we are dedicating February to highlight start-ups with a black founder innovating around interesting problems. Today, we are highlighting three amazing Human Resource Technology companies.
The global human resource management market size is anticipated to reach USD $38.17 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 11.7% from 2020 to 2027, according to a report by Grand View Research.
ResearchAndMarkets states the market is driven by the advancements in IT, the introduction of predictive analytics in the HR process, and increasing adoption of cloud among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to effectively manage field and office personnel.
Continue reading to learn about three black-founded start-ups disitnctly pioneering the future of work!
California
Bambee
HQ: Los Angeles
Founded: 2016
Total Raised: $32.00M (Pitchbook)
About the Company
- Bambee is an HR software company that provides small and midsize businesses (SMBs) with an HR manager and a suite of tools the company can use to manage regulation and compliance. Bambee’s HR Managers also lead internal investigations, hires, onboarding, furloughs, and implementation of return-to-work procedures.
- Small business HR mistakes negatively impact SMBs and employees. The company acts as a liaison for employees to surface issues before they become catastrophic. Businesses incur an 11% chance each year of having an employment claim filed, and Bambee’s democratized access to best practices and resources is already decreasing those claims for customers
“Our belief in Allan, Bambee, and its gifted leadership team have only strengthened our conviction that Bambee is unlocking latent demand to become the industry leader in the small business HR space.” — Nate Redmond, Managing Parter at Alpha Edison
- The company raised $15 million of Series B venture funding in a deal led by QED Investors on December 17, 2020, putting the company’s pre-money valuation at $130 million. Alpha Edison and Mucker Capital also participated in the round. The funds will be used to expand the company’s service offerings and the company’s ability to reach millions of small businesses.
Meet the Team
Allan Jones, Co-Founder & CEO
- Allan is a self-identified college dropout and began his career as a Software Quality Assurance Analyst at Helio in 2006.
- He then served as a Product Manager for MyLife.com and Diretor of Product Management at Docstoc (now defunct).
- In 2011, he founded his first venture, Triple Thread, where he was CEO for two years until he became the Chief Marketing Officer of ZipRecruiter.
- Allan co-founded Bambee with Edward Fu, who is no longer at the company. Edward began his career in 2004 as an Investment Banker at Jefferies & Company. He then started investing with Technology Crossover Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners for a collective 5 years. In 2014, he joined ZipRecruiter as VP of Monetization & Analytics, working his way to
SVP of Product & Growth, and then becoming Chief Marketing Officer. At ZipRecruiter, he worked closely with Allan, scaling the company from 27 employees to 350. The two served as CMO concurrently from 2015 to 2016, when they departed to establish Bambee.
Paul Sternhell, Chief Customer Officer
- Paul joined Bambee in 2019, initially as Chief Product Officer. He made the transition to Chief Customer Officer in June 2020.
- Most recently, he was SVP of Monetization & Platform at OpenX, a leading programmatic advertising marketplace.
- He previously worked at technology giant Google for over 5 years, with his final position being Head of Search Solutions, Americas.
- Paul has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Mike Ruangutai, Chief Technology Officer
- A recent addition to leadership, Mike joined the team in May 2020.
- Previously he was VP of Product Development at ADP, where he led a global team responsible for tax, payment, and compliance products powering over 700,000 US companies large and small.
- He boasts over 20 years of technology experience having led product development teams in the media, video gaming, and healthcare SaaS product spaces at companies such as Cornerstone OnDemand and Kareo.
- Mike is an alum of the University of Southern California.
The Start-up Society Assessment
- The company is targeting small businesses with an affordable SaaS product to fill a need that most SMBs don't account for. Most small business owners act as the HR manager, which is oftentimes not what they should be focusing on. Bambee has a clear value proposition and legitimately alleviates issues around recruiting and navigating compliance that most small business owners are not well versed on.
- Tracking and managing performance reviews, adhering to regulations around hiring & firing, and limiting their clients' risk of litigation are all problems that competitors are not solving for SMB’s. 10.8% of Bambee’s new clients since March 1 are new businesses launching in a post-Covid environment, indicating America’s best days to run a small business are still ahead.
Go Deeper
Bambee Raises $15 Million to Help Small Business Owners Solve Challenging HR Issues
Goodbye Recruiting, Hello Bambee
Massachusetts
Syrg
HQ: Boston
Founded: 2017
Total Raised: $3.80M (Pitchbook)
About the Company
- Syrg helps businesses engage and rehire their best hourly employees, reducing time- and cost-to-hire by 90% or more.
- The Former Employee Relationship Management solution helps hourly workplaces make operations more efficient, compliant, and human.
- The platform integrates with existing HR software and provides enterprise-grade security, onboarding new clients in just 5 minutes. The start-up specializes in the facility and transit industries, but has proven value in sectors ranging from hospitality to food services.
- Despite being a relatively young company, Syrg has developed a blue-chip customer base with clients such as Dunkin’, Wendy’s, Subway, and Tim Hortons.
- The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of Syrg. Former employees who may have lost jobs or been placed on furlough, through Syrg, are able now to make use of their skills from former positions.
Meet the Team
Rahkeem Morris, Co-Founder & CEO
- Previously, he worked at Google, leading financial management for Google’s IT, Cloud and Research Functions ($1B+ annual budget), programming and internal tools, and reporting platforms.
- Rahkeem has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics from Cornell University.
- Growing up with two siblings in a single-parent household in Albany, New York, Rahkeem dropped out of high school at 14 to help care for his younger brother. He balanced multiple part-time jobs (working 13 in total) over nine years to make ends meet. Syrg was born from his personal experience.
Robert Snyder, Co-Founder & COO
- Previously, Robert focused on labor optimization and turnarounds while a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. He experienced life in the on-demand economy as a Catalant consultant, and has worked at a number of east- and west-coast startups.
- Robert has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He graduated from the latter in only three years.
The Start-up Society Assessment
- 76% of hiring managers rehiring an employee reported they were satisfied. Evidently, rehiring is an effective approach for both the employer and employee.
- By enabling the recruitment of former workers, this software induces savings of thousands of dollars per hire on background checks, recruitment, onboarding, and training costs.
- Hourly workplaces, such as restaurants, have extremely high turnover rates (70%+). This dynamic makes staffing and training extremely difficult, which is why Syrg is a critical product.
Go Deeper
Boston Speaks Up: Meet SYRG CEO Rahkeem Morris
Texas
Gig Wage
HQ: Dallas
Founded: 2014
Total Raised: $12.97M (Pitchbook)
About the Company
- Gig Wage provides companies with an infrastructure to manage and pay the contractors that work for their clients. The company also offers contractors themselves a credit card to access their funds in advance of pay. This is evidence of their unique strategy to combine payroll, payments, and banking.
- 1099 workers typically lose 2–20% of their income during payroll processing due to fees and the cost of payday advances. Gig Wage is a company that seeks to remedy this by redesigning the traditional payroll structure.
“Black and brown workers over-index in the gig economy, and it was important to me to democratize access to capital and serve as an on-ramp to economic opportunity for low -to-middle-income communities of color.” — Craig Lewis, Gig Wage CEO & Founder.
- The company raised $10 million of Series A venture funding in a deal led by Green Dot and Foundry Group on January 11, 2021. Continental Investors, Revolution, and Techstars also participated in the round.
Meet the Team
Craig J. Lewis, Founder & CEO
- He began his career as a District Manager at ADP in 2008. He leveraged his experience and became a Payroll Consultant for ~3.5 years between two firms until 2012.
- In 2012, he served as the CSO at Kairos.com and left in 2014 when he founded Gig Wage.
- He also currently serves as the Advisor to Marketplace Risk, an Investor in Loop Insurance, and a Founding Member of the Forbes Dallas Business Council.
- Craig earned his Associate’s degree from Connor State College and his B.A. in Communications & Marketing from Morehead State University.
Ethan Austin, Chief Strategy Officer
- He began his career as the founder of GiveForward, where he served as president for almost 8 years until it was acquired by YouCaring (which has since been acquired by GoFundMe).
- He participated in Techstars in 2010 and Startup Leadership Program in 2011. He has also served as the advisor to multiple start-ups and as the Board Director to Climate Cycle.
- Ethan spent 3 years at Techstars as a Director and MD. He joined Gig Wage as the Chief Strategy Officer in late 2020.
- Ethan earned his B.A. in Political Science & Economics and his J.D. from American University.
The Start-up Society Assessment
- The unique insight that Gig Wage has developed is that the Future of Work requires the hybridization of three major verticals: payroll, payments, and banking. When it comes to the future of work, Gig Wage recognizes that a horizontal integration across the three major verticals is required to be truly paradigm-shifting.
- The gig economy currently counts 60–75 million people as independent contractors, and according to Edison Research, 44% of gig workers name their work in the gig economy as their primary source of income. This certifies the market that the company is targeting.
Go Deeper
Thank you for reading this article! Feel free to leave a comment, clap, and follow. Stay tuned for next week’s write-up, posted every Monday at 5 AM ET.
Authored by Arteen Zahiri, Rumeer Keshwani, and Elham Chowdhury
