San Francisco-based HumanQ (formerly known as Experiential Insight) is excited to announce a $2 million seed round of funding, led by Kindred Ventures, to further expand on its technology products and grow a global team of coaches in the high-demand workforce coaching and development market.
Today, the HumanQ digital platform offers employees of its global corporate customers in 55 different countries an opportunity to connect with each other through live video streaming during group coaching sessions. HumanQ’s coach-led group sessions span various company and societally-relevant topics to create support, accountability, and connection among the workforce and community.
Through the intersection of technology and human interaction, HumanQ increases purpose, empowerment and impact for employees in their customer organizations, who include Microsoft, LinkedIn, Chobani, Spark New Zealand, Bidgely, VMware, Penn State University and Stanford University, among others – where remote, hybrid and in-office populations have an opportunity to solve for cross-geographical and cross-functional collaboration and innovation.
HumanQ was founded by Nishika de Rosairo, a human capital veteran who spent a decade working for Deloitte Consulting, Salesforce, Cisco and several other Fortune 500 organizations. Understanding firsthand the struggle organizations face in providing meaningful development opportunities, she developed a group coaching platform for employee development and connection, leveraging a global network of expert coaches. Working with all levels of employees within companies, from startups to large enterprises, de Rosairo and HumanQ are challenging previous models where expert coaching only focused on executives. Alternatively, HumanQ utilizes a group coaching and live video model where all levels of the organization are able to achieve greater impact aligned to top priorities, with every level of the organization speaking the same language.
In today’s world where employee purpose is at an all time high, HumanQ is at the forefront of building employee mindsets and success skills that enable them to act with agility, think bigger, become more resilient, build greater connection, have courageous conversations, be more inclusive, and innovate for the future – all while providing a safe psychological space to do so.
This shift in power from the organization to the employee is further amplified in the number of boardrooms who are adding human resource experts to their directorships where talent management now tops the list of areas that need more time and attention in the boardroom, and even ahead of strategic oversight for the first time1.
According to CNBC, nearly half of global employees are unhappy in their jobs today, and nearly 43 percent say they frequently think of quitting their jobs2. According to HumanQ, group coaching has proven to significantly improve the outlook: 94 percent of employees going through HumanQ digital group coaching programs are more engaged in their organization, and 96 percent are more equipped to add value, with 90 percent saying they would recommend their group coaching program to a colleague or friend.
“We have partnered with HumanQ to add value across our global regions with the goal of building leader mindsets, creating organization alignment, and rebuilding connection and engagement in this accelerated digital age. HumanQ’s Group Coaching model is unique and powerful, and we’re looking forward to our ongoing partnership,” says Liz Brackett, Global Business Strategy Director at Microsoft.
“Companies in every industry and every stage, from early-stage startup to large public global companies, succeed or fail ultimately based on the quality of their ability to recruit and nurture talented employees. The accelerated shift toward a hybrid of office, distributed, and remote work has changed how we think about the importance and scope of professional development and learning. Not just for executives, HumanQ’s video platform and network of coaches offers a fun, accessible, and scalable solution for the entire organization. HumanQ is a pioneer in this area using a purpose-built video SaaS platform that taps into their global network of vetted coaches. We’re thrilled to lead their seed round as they expand their team and product development.” said Steve Jang from Kindred Ventures.
The seed round of funding was led by Kindred Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund which has a track record of investing in startups that have become innovative platform companies such as Uber, Coinbase, Postmates, Tala, Tonal, and Color Health. In addition, notable angels including Toast CFO Elena Gomez, Natus Medical CHRO Lisa Paul, Google Head of Engineering Dinesh Chahlia, and several other angels from leading organizations also participated in this round of financing.
HumanQ is a live video platform for group coaching designed to create psychologically safe spaces that build engagement, connection, and impact at every level of an organization. To date, HumanQ has delivered to over 55 countries worldwide leveraging a global expert network of coaches to unlock human potential. For more information on the impact of group coaching with HumanQ, visit www.humanQ.com or email info@humanq.com.
