Our initial coverage of Leena AI highlighted its participation in the Y Combinator Summer 2018 program, where the startup was dedicated to developing HR chatbots. Since then, the company has broadened its focus to encompass a comprehensive HR policy platform. The company recently announced an $8 million Series A funding round, spearheaded by Greycroft, with contributions from various individual investors within the industry.

Adit Jain, the company’s CEO and co-founder, explained that in 2018, their primary objective was to create an intelligent virtual assistant designed to address HR-related inquiries. This allowed employees to easily obtain information, such as their remaining vacation time or upcoming holiday schedules, through simple interactions with the bot.

Over the past few years following their time at Y Combinator, the company has evolved to offer a wider range of HR services. “We’ve developed an intelligent system for case management, knowledge management, and document management, all of which support the virtual assistant’s functionality,” Jain clarified.

He envisions the platform as a complete system, with the chatbot serving as the primary interface for employees to access HR information. For instance, the knowledge management component provides the chatbot with the necessary answers, and the system learns and improves with each employee interaction and the feedback received.

The document management feature allows HR departments to create or upload HR policies, while the case management system is utilized when issues are too complex for the chatbot to resolve independently, requiring escalation to a human HR professional.

During a conversation with Jain in September 2018, following his startup’s $2 million seed funding, he reported having 16 customers and aimed to reach 50 within the next year or so. Currently, the company serves 100 enterprise clients, with a total of 300,000 employees utilizing the platform globally.

The recent pandemic has significantly boosted business, with over half of the current customer base joining this year. Jain attributes this growth to companies seeking to digitize HR processes as more employees work remotely.

“This shift is expected to continue as organizations recognize the benefits of utilizing digital applications to manage their operations, particularly in automating routine and repetitive tasks,” Jain stated.

As the company has expanded throughout the year, its team has grown from 30 to 75 employees, with plans to double that number in the coming year. Jain has been collaborating with his lead investor to establish a diverse and inclusive company culture at Leena AI.

To support this goal, he is actively seeking to raise approximately $400,000 from a diverse group of investors, hoping their insights will contribute to the development of robust diversity programs as the company continues to grow.

The startup’s success during these challenging times demonstrates a broader trend of companies seeking to modernize all aspects of their technology infrastructure, including HR.