Valence, the company behind Nadia—the world’s first enterprise AI coach—has secured $50 million in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Bessemer partner Sameer Dholakia, known for his CEO experience and AI investments in Anthropic, Abridge, and EvenUp, will join Valence’s board.
The funding underscores the rising appetite for AI-powered talent management tools as enterprises seek scalable solutions for coaching, employee development, and HR transformation.
AI Coaching Goes Mainstream
Nadia represents a bold new category in enterprise software: AI coaching. Unlike one-size-fits-all productivity tools, Nadia offers personalized, context-rich coaching across leadership, performance, and workplace well-being. Deployed across 50+ global deployments in Fortune 500 firms—including Experian, Delta Air Lines, Kraft Heinz, and General Mills—Nadia has facilitated over a million coaching conversations, consistently hitting NPS scores above 90.
By democratizing access to high-quality coaching, Nadia gives employees the kind of guidance historically reserved for top executives. For HR teams, it’s a timely solution for challenges such as adapting to AI-driven workflows, mitigating burnout, and keeping pace with the speed of technological change.
“AI coaching represents an entirely new category of enterprise software, one that is both deeply personal for the individual and transformational for HR at scale,” said Dholakia. “With Nadia, Valence has proven that AI can democratize access to effective, context-rich coaching.”
Advanced AI Built for Enterprise
Launched in early 2023, Nadia isn’t just another chatbot. It leverages a proprietary memory-and-context engine to deliver coaching tailored to each company’s culture, workflows, and leadership model. This allows employees to receive actionable, personalized guidance directly in the flow of work—making learning and development seamless rather than a separate, administrative process.
Enterprises are already seeing measurable results. At Experian, a third of the global workforce engages with Nadia as part of performance management. Delta Air Lines is deploying Nadia to frontline leaders to enhance real-time decision-making and customer service. Analog Devices uses Nadia to support first-time technical managers in over 30 languages, integrating the AI coach deeply into its talent strategy.
“We’ve been closely monitoring AI coaching, and Nadia stood out,” said Mariya Trickett, Chief People Officer at Analog Devices. “We are now customizing her to all aspects of ADI and embedding her deeply in our talent programs.”
Scaling and Governance
Valence plans to use the new funding to accelerate product development, expand go-to-market efforts, deepen enterprise partnerships, and grow its global team. The company is hiring worldwide and emphasizes governance, security, and ethical AI practices—ensuring Nadia is compliant with global standards and designed with safety and responsibility as first principles.
“Every worker will have an AI coach,” said Parker Mitchell, co-founder and CEO of Valence. “The question is whether that coach simply gives answers, or whether it truly transforms how people learn, perform, and work together. Nadia is the first enterprise AI coach that helps people and organizations thrive in the AI era.”
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