# Dhiraj Sharma

> Dhiraj Sharma is the Founder and CEO of Simpplr, the AI-powered employee experience platform that has raised $139M across four funding rounds, including a $70M Series D in 2023. A serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience, he previously founded Simplion Technologies and Lirik Inc. before co-founding Simpplr in 2014. Under his leadership, Simpplr has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Intranet Packaged Solutions, the Forrester Wave for Intranet Platforms, and the IDC MarketScape for Integrated Employee Workspaces, building a platform designed to make work more human for hundreds of enterprise clients.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Simpplr
- **Organizations:** Simpplr, Simplion Technologies, Lirik Inc.
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Master of Science, Computer Engineering, San Jose State University
- **Known for:** Built Simpplr to $139M in total funding across four rounds including a $70M Series D, Simpplr named Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Intranet Packaged Solutions three consecutive years, Simpplr named Forrester Wave Leader for Intranet Platforms four consecutive times

## Career timeline

- **2007** — Founded Simplion Technologies, an IT consulting services firm; completed 400+ client engagements over 8 years
- **2014** — Co-founded Simpplr in December with Piyush Rajput and Andrew Nelson, targeting legacy corporate intranet systems
- **2015** — Founded Lirik Inc., a cloud-native software development firm; led both Lirik and Simpplr simultaneously
- **2016** — Simpplr closed Series A funding round on September 29, 2016
- **2018** — Wound down Lirik Inc. to focus fully on Simpplr
- **2021** — Led $32M Series C funding round led by Tola Capital with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Norwest Capital; Simpplr named a Forrester Wave Leader
- **2023** — Closed $70M Series D round led by Sapphire Ventures; Simpplr named Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Intranet Packaged Solutions
- **2024** — Acquired Socrates.ai to bolster AI capabilities; Simpplr named Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for second consecutive year; celebrated company's 10-year anniversary
- **2025** — Launched Simpplr Enterprise Search, EX Agent, and AI Agent Studio; named Leader in IDC MarketScape for Integrated Employee Workspaces

## Achievements

- Built Simpplr to $139M in total funding across four rounds including a $70M Series D
- Simpplr named Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Intranet Packaged Solutions three consecutive years
- Simpplr named Forrester Wave Leader for Intranet Platforms four consecutive times
- Simpplr named Leader in IDC MarketScape for Integrated Employee Workspaces (2025)
- Named 2024 Top AI Company by The Software Report
- Bay Area Best Places to Work recognition in 2021 and 2023
- Successfully completed 400+ client engagements at Simplion Technologies including Cisco, Canon, NetApp, NVIDIA
- Scaled Simpplr from founding team to approximately 490 employees
- Completed acquisition of Socrates.ai to accelerate AI roadmap

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Simpplr named Leader in IDC MarketScape for Integrated Employee Workspaces 2025; partnership with Moveworks announced for enterprise digital workplace access
- **2025-04** — Launched EX Agent (conversational interface for employees) and AI Agent Studio (low-code/no-code tool for building custom agents and workflows)
- **2025-03** — Spring 2025 Release: launched industry-first Enterprise Search fully integrated within an intranet; announced Custom Apps for integrations with Zendesk, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow
- **2024-10** — Simpplr celebrated its 10-year anniversary; Sharma reflected on the company's journey from a few employees to hundreds
- **2024-07** — Simpplr named Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Intranet Packaged Solutions for the second consecutive year
- **2024-01** — Simpplr acquired Socrates.ai, an AI-powered virtual assistant company, to strengthen its AI capabilities

## Links

- Website: https://simpplr.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharmadhiraj/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/dhiraajs
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyykrQaPObU
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simpplr

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dhiraj-sharma
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-26