Cascade AI is a Bellevue/Seattle-based startup building an agentic AI platform for HR and IT operations. Its AI teammates sit across systems of record like Workday, ADP, UKG and ServiceNow to answer employee questions and resolve requests across benefits, leave, compensation, policy and IT - executing workflows in real time rather than just surfacing information. Founded in 2022 by former Microsoft engineers Ana-Maria Constantin and Pulak Goyal, the company raised a $3.75M seed round led by Gradient, Google's AI-focused venture fund, and says customers see roughly a 50% drop in HR ticket volume after deployment.
Warp is an AI-native payroll, compliance, and benefits platform built for high-growth startups. It automates the back-office grind - multi-state tax registrations, filings, benefits enrollment, global contractor payments, and compliance-notice resolution - so founders can hire, onboard, and pay teams anywhere in the US and 150+ countries without the manual admin. Backed by Y Combinator and Sound Ventures, Warp has raised about $24-25M to build what it calls an autonomous back office.
Gusto is a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR platform built for small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 2011 as ZenPayroll by Josh Reeves, Tomer London, and Edward Kim, the company has grown to serve over 500,000 businesses and recently crossed $1 billion in annual revenue. Gusto handles everything from payroll runs and tax filings to health insurance, 401(k) plans, and employee onboarding - replacing what used to require a patchwork of accountants, brokers, and spreadsheets with a single platform. The company also offers Gusto Embedded, a payroll API that lets other software platforms build payroll directly into their products. Valued at roughly $9.5 billion, Gusto remains private and is widely considered a leading IPO candidate in the HR tech space.
Aziz Qureshi is one of the four co-founders of Gusto (formerly ZenPayroll), the cloud-based HR, payroll, and benefits platform serving over 500,000 small and medium businesses across the United States. Founded in 2012 as part of Y Combinator's Winter 2012 batch, Gusto has grown into one of the most prominent HR SaaS companies in the world, raising over $796 million in funding at a $10 billion valuation. Qureshi, based in Karachi, Pakistan, has maintained a notably private profile compared to his co-founders, contributing to Gusto's mission of bringing simplicity and humanity to workforce management for small businesses.
Matt Levin is the CEO of Modern Health, a leading global workplace mental health platform. A serial CEO with two decades of leadership across HR technology, health care, and benefits, Levin has helmed Benefitfocus (sold to Voya Financial), People 2.0 (a 50-country HR platform), and held C-suite roles at ADP and Aon. He was part of the core team that engineered the landmark $4.9 billion Aon-Hewitt merger and was recognized as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2013. A Chicago-based operator and longtime lecturer at both Northwestern and the University of Chicago, he now leads Modern Health's mission to bring proactive, globally equitable mental health care to the world's workforce.