VNDLY transforms how companies manage their extended workforces, including contingent workers such as contractors and vendors

Background:

Battery co-led VNDLY’s Series A financing in February 2019 alongside Hyde Park Ventures when the company had just nine full-time employees. Battery then doubled down, investing again in the company’s Series B in December 2019, less than a year later.

Battery’s investment thesis behind VNDLY was that a significant and growing percentage of the workforce at large Fortune 500 companies is now classified as contingent labor—a workforce made up of contract workers and vendors that employ outsourced employees. In fact, at Google—a Fortune 100 company—more than 50 percent of the company’s workforce is classified as contingent labor. These companies need a modern workforce-management software system to manage this labor force, and Battery believed VDNLY would be that operating system. VNDLY is the only cloud-based, modern vendor-management system in the fast-growing, trillion-dollar market for contingent labor. Essentially, the company created the equivalent of a Workday workforce-management system for all non-W2 employees.

However, more than any of the traction or market tailwinds, Battery’s investment in VNDLY was an investment in the founders Shashank Saxena and Narayan Surabhi. Prior to VNDLY, Saxena ran all digital and e-commerce for Kroger, overseeing a team of 500 engineers and product managers, before shifting to head of partnerships and corporate strategy.

The Battery Impact:

• Battery coordinated with VNDLY on strategic accounts in the go-to-market process to leverage Battery’s business-development network and increase the company’s visibility with key potential stakeholders.
• Battery was also actively involved in vetting key executive hires for the company as it grew.
• Overall, Battery aimed to be a helpful growth advisor on multiple fronts along VNDLY’s journey.

Outcome:

In November 2021, Workday announced its acquisition of VNDLY for $510 million.

The acquisition was a strategic move for Workday, which provides human-capital management software to more than 50 percent of the Fortune 500. Folding in VNDLY’s vendor- and contract-solutions extend Workday’s capabilities with offerings that its customers will need in the future. Bringing the two companies together means that Workday customers can manage internal and external workers from the same interface, saving HR personnel from switching context based on worker type.