Zira takes off with $3.1M to Revolutionize Workforces Globally
PRESS RELEASE — October 7, 2020
Zira Technologies Inc. (Zira), a global cloud-based platform that optimizes labor-efficiency and employee morale for shift-based workforces, raised $3.1 million in its first round of financing. Lead investors General Catalyst and Abstract Ventures are joined by notable angel investors in the round, including Jana Messerschmidt, Lee Fixel, Aaron Schildkrout, Daniel Graf, and Joe Montana.
The Zira Platform
Zira brings more flexible, powerful, and easy-to-use tools to businesses that have traditionally been forgotten by recent technological advancements. Current products in the space function as digital versions of their legacy manual counterparts, without unlocking the potential time-saving or growth-driving data and AI insights that tech companies use to succeed.
Zira’s platform handles daily tasks like scheduling shifts or assessing performance in a fully automated, hands-free way. Zira can even intercept potentially negative scenarios before they unfold, providing the least volatile solutions in real-time
The flexibility of these tools empowers businesses to spend less time on scheduling and recruitment and more time, improving their bottom line as well as the lives of their managers and employees.
Zira is already live and the tools are providing results for businesses across the US, Canada, Mexico, and India.
“Zira is incredibly powerful and yet still remarkably easy to use,” shares Bua Vanishta, owner of several delivery-only restaurants including Chicken as Cluck and Macho Taco who switched to Zira in March. “I had Zira working on my tablet at the restaurant and my staff was already up and running before I could even tell them about the new system. We are opening more locations in Texas and I’m excited to have Zira set-up ready to help streamline those new launches.”
The Founding Team
Zira is the brainchild of the former Uber product and design pair of Arjun Vora and Tito Goldstein. Vora, previously served as Uber’s Head of Driver Design while Tito Goldstein previously served as Uber’s Head of Product Design, Uber for Business. The duo is joined by engineering leads from Uber, Slack, Facebook, and Thought Spot.
“Management styles in many of these industries haven’t been updated in 100 years,” said Zira co-founder and CEO Tito Goldstein. “After talking with hundreds of managers and employees across a variety of industries, we felt it was time to take the burden off of managers and their employees. By providing a tool that makes these modern strategies a few clicks away, Zira can unlock the potential hidden in our world’s workforces.”
“With Zira, employees now have a voice in their work schedules, and our AI ensures that each voice is heard,” said Zira co-founder Arjun Vora. “By understanding preferences and past behaviors, Zira is able to create the best schedules and reward good performance.”
About Zira
Zira Technologies Inc. designs and develops employee management solutions that leverage technology to empower companies from the ground up. At the core of Zira’s platform is a robust AI, capable of creating fully optimized schedules in seconds to increase employee productivity, increase employee morale and retention all while reducing labor cost.
About General Catalyst
General Catalyst is a venture capital firm with approximately $5B in total capital raised that makes seed through growth-stage investments. We back fearless entrepreneurs with the potential to build foundational enterprise technologies and ubiquitous consumer brands. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, and Boston, our portfolio companies benefit from a bicoastal network of talent, customers, and opportunity. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com
Contacts
LaunchSquad for General Catalyst
generalcatalyst@launchsquad.com
Press for Zira
team@zira.ai
