Indianapolis-based startup Pillar acquired by fellow HR tech company

Indianapolis-based tech startup Pillar has been acquired by a fellow human-resources technology company, Denver-based Employ Inc.

The deal, announced Wednesday, closed on Sunday. Employ declined to disclose financial terms of the transaction.

Pillar, which launched out of Indianapolis-based venture studio High Alpha in 2021, uses artificial intelligence and real-time coaching to help employers assess job candidates during the interview process.

Employ’s Chief Product Office, Dara Brenner, said all of Pillar’s 11 employees remain with the company post-acquisition. That includes Pillar founder and CEO Mark Simpson, whose key focus now will be on working with Employ’s chief revenue officer, Brenner said.

Employ, which offers tech-focused recruiting and hiring tools for small-, medium- and enterprise-sized employers, had 495 employees before acquiring Pillar. That headcount includes staffs at Jobvite, JazzHR and Lever, which previously were independent companies but now operate as brands under Employ.

Jobvite, JazzHR and Lever all offer tools that help employers track job applicants as they move through the recruiting and hiring process. Brenner said Pillar was an appealing acquisition target because the company’s technology is focused on a different part of those processes.

With the acquisition of Pillar, Brenner said, Employ now has a tool focused specifically on a key part of that recruiting and hiring process: the job interview.

“When we find a solution that solves a specific choke point, we would really prefer to own that technology, as opposed to partnering with that technology,” Brenner said.

Pillar is not the first Indianapolis tech firm to become part of Employ.

The company was formed in February 2022 to serve as the parent company for Jobvite, which was then based in Indianapolis, as well as two other HR tech firms Jobvite had acquired the previous year: Pittsburgh-based JazzHR and Ohio-based NXTThing RPO. In August of that year, Employ acquired another HR-tech firm, San Francisco-based Lever.

Today, JazzHR, Lever, Jobvite and, now, Pillar exist as brands within Employ. NXTThing RPO, while still part of Employ, operates separately and is not involved with the Pillar acquisition.

Jobvite had moved its headquarters from California to Indianapolis in 2021, though it had had a local presence for several years before that. Jobvite entered the local market with a one-person office in 2014 and expanded its presence when it acquired Canvas Talent Inc. in 2019.

At the time it announced its Indianapolis headquarters, Jobvite said it planned to add about 200 local employees. The company secured an offer of up to $6.8 million in conditional tax credits from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. based on those plans.

The IEDC incentives were performance-based, meaning that the company could claim the tax credits only after Hoosiers were hired. According to the IEDC’s online transparency portal, Jobvite claimed only $671,727 in tax credits. IBJ has reached out to the IEDC for more information regarding the company’s compliance.

Jobvite’s Indianapolis headquarters, which had been located in the Guaranty Building at 20 N. Meridian St., has since closed.