HackerPulse, a San Francisco-based startup, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding to further develop its platform, which aims to help enterprises optimize their engineering teams by identifying productivity bottlenecks and inefficiencies. The funding round was led by AlTalR Capital, with participation from Antler and DVC Fund, as well as numerous angel investors from companies like Uber, Cloudflare, and Google.

HackerPulse's platform integrates with developers' tools like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, as well as revenue markers and user analytics, to provide team leaders with a comprehensive dashboard to track their engineering teams' activities. According to Gleb Braverman, co-founder and CEO of HackerPulse, the tool is not designed to monitor individual engineers' performance but rather to help managers identify areas where teams can improve their workflow.

Braverman emphasized that the platform's goal is to assist managers in making data-driven decisions to optimize their teams' productivity, rather than simply tracking lines of code written. He noted that while the necessary data is technically available, it requires significant time and effort to gather and analyze it, which is where HackerPulse's platform comes in.

HackerPulse's origins date back to Braverman's first startup, Speakezee, which was described as "Snapchat for voice." After listening to a podcast featuring venture capitalist Bill Gurley, Braverman was inspired to create a rank-and-file system for employees. He teamed up with Alberto Scherb, a former angel investor in Speakezee, and launched the product in July 2024. The initial product garnered 20,000 users, and after gathering feedback from customers and investors, Braverman realized the tech could be adapted for a larger use case.

HackerPulse is currently targeting companies with large engineering teams, particularly in industries like telecom, manufacturing, and logistics, where technology adoption has lagged behind other sectors. The startup has already onboarded several enterprise customers, including Preply, Coverflex, and DiscoverCars.

While HackerPulse is not the first company to tackle this problem, Braverman believes his platform's focus on engineer visibility and team optimization sets it apart from competitors like Jellyfish, which has raised over $110 million in venture funding. HackerPulse's approach, according to Braverman, is more holistic, aiming to optimize work across teams rather than simply providing reports or data-based tooling.

With the seed funding in place, HackerPulse's primary objective is to drive sales and develop additional product features. Braverman stated that the company aims to reach several million dollars in annual recurring revenue (ARR) before pursuing a Series A funding round. For now, the focus is on expanding the customer base, gathering feedback, and refining the product to prepare for the next stage of growth.