Newport Beach-based Compa has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round to bring real-time market intelligence to help companies make employee compensation fair and competitive.
The financing follows the growth of Compa’s market data product, launched in May 2023, which introduced a new approach to compensation market data.
Using Compa, compensation teams access “real-time offer data” aggregated across a network of participating companies to detect market changes.
Customers include Airbnb, Nvidia, Stripe, Instacart, Block, DoorDash and Autodesk.
Compa’s market data system represents a departure from traditional surveys, where self-reported data is employee-based and published in annual reports.
By analyzing offer data, compensation teams can identify market changes faster and adapt strategy to improve competitiveness and manage cost.
Up until now, much of compensation has been based on backward-looking survey data, which leads to inconsistency, bias and bad decision-making, according to Compa.
Charlie Franklin, co-founder and chief executive of Compa, said compensation teams can no longer rely on “legacy survey data.”
“Markets are fast-changing and new jobs like AI Engineering can emerge overnight. To navigate these trends, compensation teams need reliable, real-time market insights, and Compa provides exactly that,” he said in a statement on Jan. 29 announcing the Series A funding.
Storm Ventures of Palo Alto led the investment with participation from Penny Jar Capital, HR Tech Investments (an affiliate of Indeed), NJP Ventures, Base10 Partners and Acadian Ventures.
New Year, New Name For Software Firm Kofax
Software firm Kofax has been renamed Tungsten Automation, the latest change for the Irvine-based firm.
Tungsten’s products handle masses of written information digitally, such as letting firms automate their invoice processing and accounts payable processes—all with the goal of improving business efficiency. The company has helped businesses transition from paper-based processing to automated data entry.
Finding a new name proved a difficult task, company officials said.
“Good names are hard to find, and it’s even harder to find ones that can be trademarked, used for website purposes, are available for use in most countries and many other reasons,” Chief Executive Reynolds Bish told the Business Journal on Jan. 31.
An earlier acquisition provided the inspiration for the new name.
“We acquired a company in mid-2022 named Tungsten Network and liked what people thought about when hearing the word Tungsten,” according to Bish.
The word tungsten is the name of a metallic element used for electrical purposes and for hardening metal alloys such as steel.
Tungsten says the new name is designed to show the “enduring reliability” of the software products from the company, which in 2022 was bought by private equity firms Clearlake Capital Group LP and TA Associates.
Bish said his company’s revenue last year was “well in excess of $500 million with 84% recurring revenue.”
