This startup wants to help change the way knowledge is captured and accessed at companies – GeekWire

A mountain of knowledge and information resides inside each company, both in documentation and with every employee. But accessing that expertise at the right time isn’t always an efficient process.

That’s where a startup called PairUp wants to help, with software designed to streamline how knowledge is stored and shared across a company.

PairUp provides quick answers to questions about documents and projects. It can help find colleagues who have experience working with a particular customer or expertise with a certain software tool.

It’s also pitched as a way to help new workers access knowledge — especially from employees who have since departed.

There are a number of competitors building internal enterprise search tools, including San Francisco startup Glean, which raised $200 million in February.

PairUp CEO and co-founder Emily Harburg said PairUp differentiates with its focus on “undocumented knowledge,” and helping route employees to the right person that has answers to their questions.

Harburg said the surge in remote work has made it more difficult for some of the more traditional knowledge-sharing that can happen between employees.

“People became even more siloed and separated,” she said. “The lack of the ability to just go over to someone’s desk and learn from them or hear from them became more difficult.”

PairUp on Tuesday announced a $2.8 million funding round led by HearstLab and Hillsven. Seattle-based venture firm Graham & Walker also invested.

“PairUp uses AI to foster human connection at work,” said Leslie Feinzaig, managing director at Graham & Walker. “They stand in stark contrast to the countless AI startups trying to replace humans, and productivity tools trying to make humans work like machines.”

Harburg previously led projects at Walt Disney Imagineering, the R&D arm of Disney, and earned her PhD in technology and social behavior from Northwestern University. Her doctoral research focused on how tech can improve workplace collaboration.

Before launching PairUp in 2022 with Andy Garvin, Harburg was a director of emerging technology and innovation at EF Education First.

Garvin previously worked as a software engineer at Kaizen Health and CareSignal.

PairUp’s chief product officer, Jonathan Geibel, previously co-founded Pluto VR, a Seattle-based mixed reality startup, and spent more than 15 years leading tech teams at Disney Animation. Geibel is based in Seattle.

Other backers of the 5-person company include Looking Glass Capital, Honeystone Ventures, MSIV, and Lofty Ventures.