Hone, the leading people skills training platform for the enterprise, has recently announced that it has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by 3L Capital, bringing its total raised to $52.4 million.
Invus Opportunities and previous investors F-Prime Capital, Cowboy Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Slack Fund, Semper Virens, and Sift Ventures also participated in the round, according to a news release provided by the company.
Hone democratizes access to executive-quality training across an enterprise. It offers expert-led small group training, research-backed curriculum, and learner assessments — all in one scalable platform. Hone combines live classes with the power of technology to create a next-generation learning experience that drives behavior change around leadership & development, DEI, wellbeing, and more. The company has trained employees at organizations as wide-ranging as Indeed, ConocoPhillips, Pacific Sunwear, Allscripts, TomTom, and Aramark.
Anton Zietsman, Partner at 3L Capital, said,
“Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to hybrid work is moving the massive market for corporate learning, development, and training online. With its focus on live, virtual, and small-group classes facilitated by world-class coaches, Hone is well positioned to take share from legacy vendors who have built their businesses on in-person programs. Led by an experienced founding and executive team, we believe Hone has the potential to become a deeply embedded and holistic solution for the modern enterprise’s learning needs.”
Hone claims to be the only learning and development (L&D) platform to offer live, online instructor-led training classes to teams at enterprise scale – allowing participants not only to learn people skills taught by domain experts, but also to benefit from peer discussions, real-time practice, social reinforcement, and measurable change. While it would typically cost in the range of $1,000-$2,000 per learner when an enterprise company enlists in-person training, Hone claims to deliver the same learning impact at 40% of that cost.
Recognizing that talent development is an essential component of a strategy to retain best performers and attract new employees, Hone has invested nearly $10 million in content production, creating one of the world’s largest libraries of live interactive classes across all facets of people skills training. With a current catalog of more than 60 classes, and with 500 classes taught to date on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) alone, Hone focuses on whole-person skills, which also include mental health and wellness, management, and individual performance.
Commenting on the development, Tom Griffiths, CEO & Co-founder of Hone, said,
“We are thrilled to partner with new and existing investors to further pursue our mission of reimagining corporate training for the modern workplace. With 41% of workers who resign indicating they did so because of lack of growth and development opportunities, investing in learning signals that the company is committed to their people’s success and development, while helping the organization deliver on its goals.”
Hone uses continuous learning and assessment tools to ensure measurable, lasting behavioral change, with more than 90% of participants showing measurable improvement and sustainable behavior change. To date, the company has delivered 55,000 learner hours, taught 15,000 learners, and facilitated 4,700 live online classes. Hone’s most popular classes include Giving Feedback That Lands, Build High Trust Relationships, Create a Culture of Belonging, and Lead Highly-Effective 1:1s.
The company plans to use the funds to expand its platform to deliver more impactful learning experiences, help learners to apply their training day-to-day, bolster measurement of outcomes and ROI, and empower admins with more powerful and flexible tooling. The company said it will expand its course catalog by enhancing core programming across its five content verticals, including Management, DEIB, Team Dynamics, Individual Performance, and Well-Being. Additionally, Hone plans to build its community by providing rich learning content to L&D leaders and by hosting virtual and in-person events.
