TiLT, a Fort Collins startup aiming to make parental leave a more organized and empathetic process, raised $10 million to grow its staff and meet the "immense demand" for its platform, the company announced.
Origin Ventures led the Series B round, and other investors, including Firework Ventures, participated. With the round, TiLT has raised more than $25 million in venture capital since it was founded in 2018.
According to TiLT, its platform streamlines the leave-of-absence process by organizing required forms and releases into one place and helping managers plan for the periods of time when employees are on leave. It applies to any leave of absence, including parental, military, caregiver and medical leave.
The demand for the platform grew during the Covid-19 pandemic when the "severity, urgency and prevalence" of leaves of absence increased, founder and CEO Jennifer Henderson said last year while winning the Emerging Tech Company of the Year award from the Colorado Technology Association.
"The pandemic accelerated a reassessment of the relationship between employees and their employers and we've seen this team execute and capture the moment," Brigette Lau, a founding partner at Firework Ventures, said in a statement. "We've been thoroughly impressed by their ability to build a thoughtful and scalable product that is a win-win for employers and their workforces."
Henderson founded TiLT after working in the corporate world for 15 years. Henderson had two children while working for different companies at different points in her career, and she faced discrimination during both pregnancies, she said.
The experiences made her want to "revolutionize" the leave-of-absence process, Henderson said while presenting at Denver Startup Week in September.
"My experience sucked. I spent 15 years in corporate America, loved it, and had no intention of jumping ship. And then, I got pregnant, and all of a sudden I stopped getting invited to the table," Henderson said during the event. "The second time around, I had a promotion rescinded."
Henderson knew there had to be a better method to handle parental leaves without stigma and frustration, so she got to work creating it. The result, TiLT, helps companies retain employees by offering personalized, empathetic support, Henderson said.
TiLT raised more than $7 million during its Series A round in 2021 and has since tripled its workforce to more than 90 people. The company expects to hire more staff with its latest infusion of capital.
"With this new capital, we'll be able to invest in growing our team and enhancing our solution even further as we continue to deliver the best leave of absence experience in the world," Henderson said.
