If you've ever tried to arrange travel for an onsite interview in a far away state or country, you're familiar with the scheduling headaches and endless email back and forth.
In what is likely your first face-to-face interaction with the company, you may already have a sour taste in your mouth.
In an effort to remove the stress from both the scheduler and candidate, Denver's Pana has created a service to coordinate flights, hotels, rides and more on a single, trackable sheet.
Pana works directly with the candidate to schedule their trip, serving as a concierge and providing recommendations throughout the process. Billing is kept in a centralized place, and candidates are instructed to upload receipts for meals or other in-trip purchases to Pana's platform.
The company, founded in 2014, announced that it has raised a $10 million Series A, led by Silicon Valley VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Techstars, Matchstick Ventures and MergeLane Fund. Previous investors also include 500 Startups, FG Angels and The Galvanize Fund.
Pana already has an impressive customer list, working with Logitech, Quora and Shopify, to name a few.
Co-founder and CEO Devon Tivona said the company's focus on the on-site interview has saved customers time and money.
"By the time a candidate gets to the on-site, it's critical their trip goes well—it’s the “first real date” between company and candidate. But today, since online booking tools weren't built for this type of trip, recruiters end up playing "travel agent", sending screenshots of flights to the candidate. Or worse, they start a “three-way email chain from hell” amongst the candidate, travel agent, and coordinator. (Buckle in for 20 to 30 emails sent back-and-forth!). These clunky and manual processes are time-consuming and create a bad impression on the candidate," he wrote in an announcement on Pana's site.
With the new investment, Pana plans to further build out its hybrid digital and human support platform to further service the travel industry.
"If a clunky spreadsheet or a dozen emails back-and-forth are required to get a trip together, we believe Pana can and will help," Tivona wrote.
