Vancouver, B.C.-based startup Topicflow raised $1.8 million from Seattle venture capital firms Founders’ Co-op and Ascend to fuel growth of its software platform that aims to help companies manage how they conduct performance reviews.
Founded in 2022, Topicflow takes a different spin on the traditional annual review, offering an AI-boosted platform built around data-driven continuous feedback in the flow of everyday work.
The 6-person company has a handful of paying customers that use Topicflow to manage 1-on-1s, team meetings, goals, KPI (key performance indicator) tracking, and performance reviews.
Topicflow uses AI to remind managers about timely performance conversations, analyze meeting transcripts, gather peer feedback, and comply with company processes, among other tasks. The system can also identify low-performing employees or workers who may leave the company.
Topicflow integrates with various enterprise software tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Asana, and Salesforce.
Part of the idea is to provide a data repository on performance that automatically gets updated throughout a year, rather than conducting a review once per year.
“Traditional performance review software is hated by employees, managers, and now even HR,” said Topicflow co-founder and CEO Amin Palizban. “They take too long to do, they are not integrated with tools people use and don’t offer business value. Organizations have to force managers to do the review and follow up for a couple of months to finish the process.”
Palizban said there are other performance management software competitors that are “just the old vendors and repackaged in a nicer UI.”
“They have bolted AI, but their product is from the pre-generative AI era and it shows,” he said.
Palizban previously founded and led 7Geese, another performance management software provider that was bootstrapped for 11 years and acquired by Paycor in 2020.
He co-founded Topicflow with Tony Angerilli and Maxime Parmentier, his former longtime colleagues at 7Geese.
Founders’ Co-op led the seed round. Fortson also invested. Total funding to date is $2.2 million.