Now on his fourth tech company, Chicago entrepreneur Vip Sandhir has four-year-old HR software company HighGround making some big moves.
Sandhir, who was also on the founding teams of Echo Global Logistics and Fooda, helped grow HighGround's revenue more than 300% last year with a 200% growth in its number of customers. The startup, which offers a platform for companies to better engage and provide feedback to employees, raised $7.6 million last week, bringing its total funding raised to date to more than $19 million. The most recent round of funding was led by Chicago-based KDWC, with additional investment from Columbus Nova Technology Partners and Lightbank.
HighGround's workplace engagement platform wants to change the typical employee evaluation process, and give HR managers tools to get more insights into their workforce. Instead of annual performance reviews, HighGround's desktop and mobile platform gives managers a way to provide meaningful, ongoing coaching sessions in real-time. Employees can be rewarded for their work as milestones are hit, and they can also publicly recognize their peers for a job well done.
HR managers can also better monitor the overall mood of the organization and understand how employees are feeling about issues in real-time, rather than checking in once or twice a year.
The company counts Patagonia, Cision, Echo Global Logistics and Allianz among its clients, and Sandhir says HighGround works with companies from 100 to 10,000 employees. HighGround's objective, he says, is to modernize the employee engagement and recognition process, thus improving productivity and employee retention.
"We’re taking those legacy, annual processes and we're helping companies convert that into a much more real-time and data driven experience," Sandhir said. "Rather than a once a year review, it should be continuous throughout the year."
HighGround was a result of the HR inefficiencies Sandhir saw throughout his entrepreneurial experience at both large and small companies. In 2000 Sandhir founded BusBank, an "Orbitz for Charter buses" marketplace that he helped grow to a $25 million business. Then in 2005 he joined Groupon foudners Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky on the founding team at Echo Global Logistics, a provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services that went public four years later.
Then in 2010 he left to co-found food tech startup Fooda with Orazio Buzza, which has raised over $13 million and has quickly grown to cities across the US to connect employees with local lunch options.
Sandhir then left Fooda and launched HighGround in 2012 in an attempt to help businesses boost their company culture and replace their traditional, boring employee reviews.
“Businesses are craving new solutions that increase employee engagement levels and modernize performance management communication within a corporation," KDWC partner Chris Capps said in a statement. "The platform boosts productivity, morale and employee satisfaction levels. HighGround is a powerful cloud platform."
Images via HighGround
