Seattle startup Syndio raises $17.1M as demand spikes for HR software that helps identify pay gaps

Syndio, the Seattle startup that works to eliminate gaps in pay equity, has raised $17.1 million in new funding, the company announced Thursday.

The new investment, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, comes just eight months after Syndio raised $7.5 million in a Series A round in May 2020.

“We have seen incredible demand in 2020, and this investment gives us the ability to innovate faster, creating new products that address some of the most difficult and embedded problems organizations face,” Syndio CEO Maria Colacurcio said in a statement.

The startup’s so-called EquityTech analytics software, and flagship product PayEQ, analyzes salaries, rooting out discriminatory differences in pay that are tied to gender, race, ethnicity or age while providing strategies for fixing those disparities. Syndio says more than 100 companies, including Nordstrom, Salesforce, Slack, Adobe and others, use the product across 2.3 million employees.

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Niantic buys competitive gaming platform Mayhem

Pokémon GO creator Niantic has acquired a small SF gaming startup building a league and tournament organization platform to help gamers create their own communities around popular titles.

Mayhem was in Y Combinator’s winter 2018 batch and went on to raise $5.7 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Other backers include Accel, which led the startup’s Series A in 2018, Afore Capital and NextGen Venture Partners.

The startup’s focus has shifted quite a bit since its initial YC debut, when it announced a service called Visor that would analyze video of esports gameplay and coach users on how they could improve their performance. The company has seemed to shift its focus wholly to community tools to help gamers find matches and organize tournaments for games like Overwatch on its platform.

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Noteworth Adds Industry Veterans to Leadership Team

HOBOKEN, N.J., Dec. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Noteworth, the first comprehensive virtual care delivery platform, today announced the addition of Donna Morrow & Gytis Barzdukas to its executive leadership team. 

In her new role as Vice President of Clinical Operations, Morrow will be tasked with overseeing the workflows with clinicians and administrative development efforts. Morrow brings years of clinician industry expertise as an RN for the past 25 years. Her deep industry knowledge will be leveraged in all areas of the company including sales, business development, and the implementation of digital medicine technology. 

In addition to Morrow, Noteworth is also adding Gytis Barzdukas as Vice President of Product to the leadership team. Barzdukas will lead the product development team helping to build the product roadmap while working closely with Noteworth's team of engineers. Barzdukas brings over 30 years of product development experience working with companies such as Microsoft, VMware, GE Digital, and most recently GuideSpark.

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Niantic Announces Pokémon GO & Starbucks Partnership In Asia Markets

In a year filled with both major brand deals with worldwide corporations as well as initiatives to invigorate small businesses, Niantic has announced a new partnership. The mobile game developer will be partnering with Starbucks and will be featuring PokéStops and gyms in Pokémon GO at stores in select Asia markets. Niantic has previously partnered with Starbucks in the United States, but will now expand, with Starbucks points of interest popping up in the game in Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

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On-Demand Pay: What Does the CFPB Have to Say About It?

Over the years, consumers have become accustomed to getting what they want when they want it, usually by doing no more than clicking a few buttons. They can watch new shows by the season, get same day shipping from marketplaces like Amazon, and order groceries online for immediate delivery. 

So it makes sense that this desire for immediacy extends past commodities. Employers are beginning to implement a system referred to as on-demand pay, which is exactly as it sounds: pay day, any day. On-demand pay gives employees access to wages as they are earned.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently released an advisory opinion titled “Truth in Lending (Regulation Z); Earned Wage Access Programs,” which explains the nuances of earned wage access (EWA) and the complications of regulatory uncertainty.

To help simplify the document and discuss on-demand pay and early access to wages, PaymentsJournal sat down with Jason Lee, CEO of DailyPay.

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