Tech Company Closes on Early-Stage Funding Round

Wes Winham is the co-founder and CEO of Woven.

An Indianapolis-based software company has closed on an early-stage round of funding. Woven, whose platform helps high-growth software teams hit hiring goals, says it has raised more than $500,000 from a group of investors, including venture studio High Alpha.

The funding round also included several Indy tech veterans such as Ade Olonoh with Formstack, John Qualls from BlueLock and Christopher Clapp of Angel Learning. Woven says its goal is to reduce bias in software hiring.

"The way companies hire software engineers is fundamentally broken," Wes Winham, co-founder and chief executive officer of Woven, said in a news release. "Resumes don’t work, and current hiring practices reinforce the biases that keep software teams too homogeneous. This is a giant problem, and we’re solving it with machine learning."

Launched last year, Woven uses a credentials-blind candidate screening process to help customers find employees. The company’s platform has candidates take part in a one-hour software engineering simulation, which it says allows customers "to find hidden gems they would have overlooked." Woven says one-third of the developers hired through their platform would have been screened out based on their resume alone. 

"At High Alpha, we work with many high-growth software teams and continually see the struggles that exist in effectively scaling engineering teams," said High Alpha Partner Eric Tobias. "Woven’s unique approach to evidence-based hiring is a game-changer for development teams, especially as the challenge to recruit top engineering talent will only continue to increase."

Woven has already worked with several fast-growing tech companies in Indy, including Lessonly, Springbuk and PactSafe. The company says it expects to help software teams make more than 100 hires over the coming year.