# Steve Sonnenberg

> Steve Sonnenberg is the co-founder and CEO of Awardco, the Utah-based employee recognition and engagement platform. After his first e-commerce company collapsed in 2011, he borrowed $5,000 to buy Awardco.com, kept a day job while testing the business, and worked with his wife and cousin Mike Sonnenberg to fulfill an early product that Amazon initially declined to support. Awardco later became an Amazon Business partner, reached more than six million users in 163 countries, and raised a $165 million Series B in May 2025 at a valuation above $1 billion.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Awardco
- **Organizations:** Awardco, WholesaleMatch, Qualtrics, Utah Valley University
- **Education:** Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Utah Valley University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Awardco and grew it from a manually fulfilled side project into a platform serving more than six million users in 163 countries., Led Awardco through a $165 million Series B in May 2025 at a valuation above $1 billion., Built an employee-rewards integration with Amazon Business after Amazon initially declined the concept.

## Career timeline

- **1999-2000** — Played one season on Utah Valley University's men's basketball team.
- **College years** — Founded WholesaleMatch while a junior at Utah Valley University; the e-commerce business later grew to more than 200 employees.
- **2006** — Graduated from Utah Valley University with a computer science degree.
- **2011** — WholesaleMatch collapsed amid civil litigation. Sonnenberg filed for bankruptcy, borrowed $5,000, bought Awardco.com and began developing a new employee-recognition business.
- **2011-2015** — Built Awardco outside his day job with cousin Mike Sonnenberg; Steve's wife manually fulfilled early Amazon reward orders.
- **2014-2015** — Worked at Qualtrics for roughly 14 months to learn enterprise sales while continuing to build Awardco.
- **2015** — Went full time at Awardco as Amazon Business emerged and the company prepared to automate its early manual model.
- **2016** — Presented Awardco at Amazon's headquarters; the companies moved forward on a partnership and global integrations.
- **2019** — Awardco ranked No. 25 on the Inc. 5000.
- **2020** — Awardco ranked No. 63 on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 and No. 1 on the MountainWest Capital Network Utah 100.
- **2021** — Awardco raised a $65 million Series A led by General Catalyst and Ryan Smith, with a reported valuation around $900 million.
- **2023** — Received Utah Valley University's Distinguished Alumni Award.
- **2025** — Awardco raised a $165 million Series B led by Sixth Street Growth and Spectrum Equity at a valuation above $1 billion.
- **2026** — Continued expanding Awardco from recognition into connected engagement, analytics and AI-enabled workforce tools.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Awardco and grew it from a manually fulfilled side project into a platform serving more than six million users in 163 countries.
- Led Awardco through a $165 million Series B in May 2025 at a valuation above $1 billion.
- Built an employee-rewards integration with Amazon Business after Amazon initially declined the concept.
- Received Utah Valley University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 2023.
- Named Utah Valley BusinessQ Entrepreneur of the Year and a Hall of Fame recipient in 2022.
- Ranked No. 22 on Glassdoor's 2021 Top CEOs list for U.S. small and midsize businesses, with a 98% employee approval rating reported at the time.
- Led Awardco to No. 25 on the 2019 Inc. 5000 and No. 63 on Deloitte's 2020 Technology Fast 500.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Awardco announced 24 badges in G2's Fall 2026 reports and a No. 8 ranking on G2's Best HR Software Products list; Sonnenberg said the recognition mattered because it came from customers.
- **2026-09** — Awardco announced that Sonnenberg would join an October Gartner HR Symposium session in London on turning recognition moments into predictive workforce data.
- **2026-02** — Appeared at Awardco's RCGNZ London event for a session titled ‘Setting the Stage: Recognition That Moves You.’
- **2025-05** — Awardco raised $165 million in Series B funding and reported a valuation above $1 billion, more than six million users across 163 countries and over 300 million reward options.

## Links

- Website: https://www.awardco.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesonnenberg
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/awardco
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awardco/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/awardco

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/steve-sonnenberg
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28