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§ Private Profile · Menlo Park, CA, USA
Intelligent performance management platform for enterprise HR, enabling OKR goal setting, continuous feedback, and employee development.
Betterworks has raised $156.5M across 6 funding rounds.
Key people at Betterworks.
Betterworks was founded in 2013 by Paige Craig (CEO & Cofounder).
Betterworks has raised $156.5M in total across 6 funding rounds.
Founded in 2013 by Kris Duggan and Diwakar Nevatia, Betterworks is a Menlo Park, California based enterprise software company providing a continuous performance management platform. The business operates a software as a service subscription model utilizing the Objectives and Key Results framework to support approximately 705,000 active global users. These users manage over 12.9 million individual goals and formulate more than 6.3 million internal workplace conversations across notable corporate clients like Colgate-Palmolive, Intuit, and Vertiv. Betterworks has raised over $125 million in total funding, including a $61 million Series C round, with financial backing from venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins and Emergence Capital. Currently led by CEO Doug Dennerline with an estimated workforce of 150 to 250 employees, the company recently introduced generative AI capabilities to assist managers with employee alignment and engagement tracking.
Key people at Betterworks.
Betterworks has raised $156.5M across 6 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $61.0M Other Equity in May 2021.
# High-Level Overview
Betterworks is a SaaS-based performance management software company that helps enterprises transform how they manage employee performance, goal-setting, and development.[1][2] Founded in 2013, the company serves large organizations by replacing traditional annual performance reviews with continuous performance management systems that integrate goal-setting, feedback, recognition, and employee engagement into the daily workflow.[2][3]
The platform addresses a critical HR challenge: aligning workforce performance with business objectives while improving employee engagement and retention. Betterworks serves this need through an AI-powered solution that embeds performance management capabilities directly into the tools employees already use—email, calendars, and messaging apps—making performance conversations seamless rather than burdensome.[1][3] The company has achieved significant scale, with 705,000 active users globally managing 12.9 million goals and milestones on the platform, and 6.3 million conversations formulated through Betterworks.[2]
# Origin Story
Betterworks was founded in 2013 with a mission to transform performance management from a periodic, compliance-driven exercise into a continuous, growth-oriented practice.[2] The company evolved its solution informed by organizational psychology and real-world partnerships with enterprise clients including Colgate-Palmolive, Intuit, and Vertiv.[2] This foundation in both behavioral science and enterprise experience shaped the platform's philosophy: that better work happens when employees feel connected to their work, their managers, and their colleagues.
The company's leadership team, headed by CEO and Chairman Doug Dennerline, has built a comprehensive executive structure spanning product, operations, revenue, and marketing—reflecting the maturity of a company serving Fortune 500 organizations.[2]
# Core Differentiators
# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
Betterworks operates at the intersection of two major HR technology trends: the shift from annual to continuous performance management and the integration of generative AI into workplace tools.[3][4] The timing is significant—organizations increasingly recognize that traditional annual reviews fail to drive engagement or performance in fast-moving business environments, creating demand for solutions that enable real-time feedback and agile goal-setting.
The company's emphasis on embedding performance management into existing workflows reflects a broader ecosystem trend toward reducing tool fragmentation and improving user adoption through contextual, in-flow experiences.[1][3] By positioning AI as a productivity multiplier for managers—automating administrative tasks while improving coaching quality—Betterworks aligns with the enterprise AI adoption wave while addressing a genuine pain point: manager burnout from performance management overhead.
The platform's focus on "performance enablement" rather than just performance measurement also reflects evolving organizational psychology, where companies increasingly view HR systems as drivers of culture and employee experience, not just compliance mechanisms.[2]
# Quick Take & Future Outlook
Betterworks is well-positioned to capture growing market share in enterprise performance management as organizations prioritize continuous feedback, AI-assisted management, and data-driven talent decisions over legacy annual review processes. The company's 705,000 active users and partnerships with major enterprises suggest strong product-market fit, though the competitive landscape includes both specialized performance management vendors and broader HR platforms adding performance capabilities.
The company's future trajectory will likely depend on deepening AI capabilities—particularly in predictive analytics for succession planning and talent development—and expanding integration with the broader HR tech ecosystem. As organizations increasingly demand unified talent platforms that connect performance management to learning, compensation, and workforce planning, Betterworks' ability to serve as a central performance intelligence layer will be critical. The shift toward hybrid and remote work also favors continuous, asynchronous feedback systems over synchronous annual review cycles, a secular trend working in Betterworks' favor.
Betterworks was founded in 2013 by Paige Craig (CEO & Cofounder).
Betterworks has raised $156.5M in total across 6 funding rounds.
Betterworks's investors include Emergence Capital, Craft Ventures, CRV, DST Global, Founders Circle Capital, Fuel Capital, Global Innovation Fund, M.G. Siegler, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Liquid 2 Ventures.
