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XAllVoices Wants to Create Safe Ways for Employees to Report Toxic Workplace Incidents
Born in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Los Angeles-based startup AllVoices is hoping to make it easier for employees to report incidents of workplace harassment.
The company's platform acts as a third-party tool to let workers report incidents of harassment and give feedback to companies anonymously, but as founder Claire Schmidt readily admits, it's not an end-all-be-all to end workplace harassment.
Still, she says it gives employees a secure way to voice their concerns anonymously – both concerning isolated incidents and about broader patterns within a company's culture. This week, the company raised $9.6 million in an oversubscribed round of Series A funding led by Silverton Partners, M13 Ventures and Crosscut Ventures.
The funding comes in the wake of several high-profile workplace conditions incidents. Recently, Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard was hit with a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging that male workers engaged in a "frat boy" culture at the company, drinking "copious" amounts of alcohol at work and treating female employees inappropriately.
The lawsuit led to an internal strike where hundreds of employees walked out of work and demanded change within the company and the resignations of several executives.
AllVoices' CEO and founder Schmidt said she has seen several examples of workplace culture veering into hostile territory. She recalled one employee who reported a company costume party where another worker dressed up as a religious figure.
"It wasn't about making the person who dressed in that costume bad or wrong," said Schmidt, who declined to name the company. "It was just like, 'hey, we're getting this feedback and in the future, we don't want anyone else to feel uncomfortable so we've decided to change the policy'."
The company eventually changed their policy to prevent people from dressing as religious figures.
Victims of workplace harassment often have a hard time getting their companies to take their complaints seriously. Around 75% of workers don't report workplace misconduct, largely out of fear of retribution – a figure that Schmidt wanted to address.
"To me, it seemed like there was a huge gap between companies' perceptions of what their employees were or were not experiencing and reality," said Schmidt. "I wanted to build a tool that could bridge that gap and help companies actually build trust with employees."
Schmidt sees the app as a platform for employees to voice complaints anonymously with a greater sense of security, particularly because employees might not trust internal reporting tools.
"If the employee doesn't have trust in the platform they're either not going to be honest in providing the feedback or they're not going to use it at all," she said. "We realized there was a massive need for a completely secure, encrypted third-party platform that placed the privacy and the security of the employee at the forefront."
AllVoices' user base includes companies such as Zillow, Box and GoPro, and is popular among companies in the tech and fintech industries, Schmidt said. She declined to comment on exact revenue figures, but said the company experienced around 400% growth in customers from 2019 to 2020.
Even if employees feel safe making allegations through AllVoices, companies that use the platform still have the responsibility to adequately respond to complaints.
It's also common for employers to respond to allegations of harassment inconsistently, which can dissuade victims from coming forward in the future, according to Sheerine Alemzadeh, the co-founder of Chicago-based nonprofit Healing to Action and a former litigator who worked with victims of workplace sexual violence. For example, companies may respond in favor of high-ranking employees or apply discipline in ways that victims see as unfair, she said.
"If you feel like people are not going to give you a fair shot when you make this complaint, especially around an issue that's already extremely stigmatized and embarrassing for a lot of people to talk about, there's really no incentive to come forward," she said.
Alemzadeh said it is important to have multiple avenues for employees to report harassment, particularly to prevent retaliation, and third-party platforms like AllVoices can be a good alternative for employees.
But she cautioned that an over-reliance on anonymous reporting tools may be an indication that companies need to address their company culture, she added.
"If you're feeling like the only way you can actually get people to come forward and share this is happening, is through an anonymous report that does not identify them, then you should probably be asking yourself some deeper questions," she said.
Even so, Schmidt said most companies she's worked with have been receptive to feedback received through AllVoices. AllVoices also lets employees give anonymous feedback on how they felt the company handled their complaint.
Schmidt believes a more proactive approach to working conditions could help prevent such large-scale issues from ever occurring.
"These are things that employees do, in my opinion, sort of a last resort," she said. "Ideally, if companies could identify these issues more proactively, provide more channels for employees to speak up, try to take action and help resolve the issues and show employees that you care, I think some of these more serious downstream incidents can be avoided."
Editor's note: dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff is an investor in AllVoices.
- All Voices Allows Employees To Share Feedback Anonymously - dot ... ›
- #MeToo-Inspired App AllVoices Lands $4.1M - dot.LA ›
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California Debates Data Privacy as SCOTUS Allows Abortion Bans
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
The United States Supreme Court called a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks constitutional on Friday, overturning the country’s founding abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court also upheld that there cannot be any restriction on how far into a pregnancy abortion can be banned.
When Politico first broke the news months before SCOTUS’s final ruling, a slew of bills entered Congress to protect data privacy and prevent the sale of data, which can be triangulated to see if a person has had an abortion or if they are seeking an abortion and have historically been used by antiabortion individuals who would collect this information during their free time.
Democratic lawmakers led by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo called on Google to stop collecting location data. The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has long voiced plans for the agency to prevent data collection. A week after the news, California Assembly passed A.B. 2091, a law that would prevent insurance companies and medical providers from sharing information in abortion-related cases (the state Senate is scheduled to deliberate on it in five days).
These scattered bills attempt to do what health privacy laws do not. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was established in 1996 when the Internet was still young and most people carried flip phones. The act declared health institutions were not allowed to share or disclose patients’ health information. Google, Apple and a slew of fertility and health apps are not covered under HIPAA, and fertility app data can be subpoenaed by law enforcement.
California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (or CMIA), goes further than HIPAA by encompassing apps that store medical information under the broader umbrella of health institutions that include insurance companies and medical providers. And several how-tos on protecting data privacy during Roe v. Wade have been published in the hours of the announcement.
But reproductive rights organizations say data privacy alone cannot fix the problem. According to reproductive health policy think tank Guttmacher Institute, the closest state with abortion access to 1.3 million out-of-state women of reproductive age is California. One report from the UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law and Policy estimates as many as 9,400 people will travel to Los Angeles County every year to get abortions, and that number will grow as more states criminalize abortions.
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
LA Tech ‘Moves’: Adtech Firm OpenX Lures New SVP, Getlabs and DISQO Tap New VPs
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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Advertising technology company OpenX Technologies appointed Geoff Wolinetz as senior vice president of demand platforms. Wolinetz was most recently senior vice president of growth at Chalice Custom Algorithms.
Remote health care infrastructure provider Getlabs hired Jaime LaFontaine as its vice president of business development. L.A.-based LaFontaine was previously director of business development for Alto Pharmacy.
Customer experience platform DISQO tapped Andrew Duke as its vice president of product, consumer applications. Duke previously served as Oracle’s senior director of strategy and product.
Media company Wheelhouse DNA named Michael Senzer as senior manager of Additive Creative, its newly launched digital talent management division. Senzer was previously vice president of business development at TalentX Entertainment.
Fintech lending platform Camino Financial hired Dana Rainford as vice president of people and talent. Rainford previously served as head of human resources at Westwood Financial.
Kourtney Day returned to entertainment company Jim Henson’s Creature Shop as senior director of business development. Day mostly recently served as business development manager for themed entertainment at Solomon Group.
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
This Week in ‘Raises’: Miracle Miles Lands $100M, Fintech Startup Tapcheck Hauls $20M
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
In this week’s edition of “Raises”: An L.A.-based footwear company closed $100 million to boost its expansion into the global market, while there were Series A raises for local fintech, biotech and space startups.
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Venture Capital
Miracle Miles Group, an L.A.-based footwear company, raised a $100 million Series A funding round co-led by IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital China.
Deno, a San Diego-based software development startup, raised a $21 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Tapcheck, an L.A.-based financial wellness startup that helps workers access their paycheck before payday, raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by PeakSpan Capital.
Gemelli Biotech, an L.A.- and Raleigh, N.C.-based biotech startup focused on gastrointestinal diseases, raised a $19 million Series A financing round led by Blue Ox Healthcare Partners.
Epsilon3, an L.A.-based space operations software startup, raised a $15 million Series A funding round led by Lux Capital.
Global Premier Fertility, an Irvine-based fertility company, raised an $11 million Series C funding round led by Triangle Capital Corporation.
Vamstar, an L.A.- and London-based medical supply chain platform, raised a $9.5 million Series A funding round co-led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and Dutch Founders Fund.
System 9, an L.A.-based digital asset market-making firm focused on the crypto altcoin market, raised a $5.7 million Series A funding round led by Capital6 Eagle.
Myria, an L.A.-based online marketplace of luxury goods and services, raised a $4.3 million seed round from Y Combinator, Backend Capital, Cathexis Ventures and other angel investors.
Binarly, an L.A.-based firmware cybersecurity company, raised a $3.6 million seed round from WestWave Capital and Acrobator Ventures.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).
- Vamstar Raises $9.5M For Its Medical Supply Chain Platform - dot.LA ›
- MaC Venture Capital Eyes $200 Million For Its Second Fund - dot.LA ›
- Los Angeles Venture Capital News - dot.LA ›
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.