What Five to Nine does

Five to Nine is a Chicago-based SaaS company founded in 2018 by Jasmine Shells (CEO) and Denise Umubyeyi that builds an employee engagement and internal event management platform. The platform targets enterprise HR, People Experience, and Employee Resource Group (ERG) teams, consolidating event creation, attendance tracking (including QR-based in-person scanning that syncs with virtual Zoom attendance), survey templates, guest list management, group/ERG administration, and an analytics dashboard into a single interface. The product is built on AWS infrastructure (us-east-1, North Virginia), holds SOC 2 Type II certification, supports GDPR and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework compliance, and integrates with Slack, Google Workspace, Outlook, Okta, Zoom, Google Meet, and Workday HRIS.

The company's revenue model is a SaaS subscription sold via a sales-led motion with demo-based, quote-priced tiers segmented by company size (Under 250 to 5,000+ employees). Five to Nine has not publicly disclosed pricing or ARR. Named customers include Webflow, Amplitude, Splunk, Malwarebytes, Headspace, Yahoo, Expedia, Clever, Shipt, Nextdoor, Upwork, and Nitro — spanning SaaS, consumer goods, security, travel, and wellness verticals. The company has raised approximately $5.5 million across five funding rounds from 2018 through 2024, including a $4.25 million seed round in June 2022 led by Black Ops Ventures with participation from Slack Fund, Alumni Ventures, and others. The Black women-owned status is a stated differentiator resonating with DEI-focused enterprise procurement.

Operationally, the company remains small at 1-10 employees as of the most recent disclosure. Leadership includes co-founders Jasmine Shells and Denise Umubyeyi, with Dan Kaplan listed as CTO. The platform has been validated through measurable customer outcomes including a 5x increase in RSVPs for one deployment, a perfect 100 eNPS score from Amplitude's 14+ global Community Week events, and a 25% improvement in attendance accuracy for a CPG customer. The company's current product surface is workflow and analytics-focused with no disclosed AI/ML capabilities.

Name

Five to Nine

Legal name

Five to Nine, Inc.

Website

https://fivetonine.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Five to Nine is a Chicago-based SaaS platform founded in 2018 that helps enterprise HR and Employee Resource Group teams create, manage, and measure internal events and people programs through a single tool with Slack, Zoom, Workday, and Okta integrations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Employee Engagement and Event Management Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Work Management & Collaboration Suites (BPAMAMAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Enterprise Work Management & Collaborative Workflow Platforms (HDAEAHAI), Meeting & Event Program Technology (Registration, Apps, Badging) (THACAFAB), On-Demand Video Hosting & Content Repurposing (VOD Libraries, Highlights, Editing) (THAHAOAN)

Keywords

• Employee engagement software
• Event management platform
• ERG program management
• Internal event software
• HR tech SaaS

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription: Five to Nine operates as a SaaS company offering a subscription-based platform for event management and ERG program management. The platform is described as streamlining and scaling event programs on a single platform, suggesting a recurring subscription model based on company size or usage.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Five to Nine is a SaaS event management and employee engagement platform that helps HR, People Experience, and Employee Resource Group (ERG) leaders create, manage, and measure internal events and programs from a single hub. The platform consolidates event creation, RSVP and attendance tracking (including in-person QR code and virtual Zoom integration), survey collection, and analytics, and connects with workplace tools such as Slack, Google Workspace, Outlook, Okta, Zoom, and Workday HRIS.

Product overview

Five to Nine is a single unified SaaS platform for employee engagement and event management. The core Five to Nine Platform serves as the central hub, with integrated features including Event Management, Attendance Tracking (including QR-based in-person tracking), Survey Templates and Custom Surveys for feedback collection, an Interactive Analytics Dashboard for measuring program impact, Guest List Management, Group Management for ERGs and teams, Deep Integrations with workplace tools, Event Page creation, and Privacy Options. The platform also includes Dedicated Customer Support staffed by former event leaders. The system enables companies to create, collaborate, and share events while measuring impact through analytics and surveys.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Five to Nine Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 5× Increase in RSVPs
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreTechnology or IntegrationFive to Nine uses AWS as their cloud data center, which is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified. AWS infrastructure is located in us-east-1 region (North Virginia) providing the technical foundation for the SaaS platform.
• AWScoreTechnology or IntegrationAWS provides hosting services as Five to Nine's cloud infrastructure provider, with servers in us-east-1 region (North Virginia).

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bizzabo: Event experience platform serving B2B events and conferences with registration, marketing, and analytics. Comparable to Five to Nine in the event management technology layer, though focused on external/B2B events versus internal employee programs.
• Splash: Event marketing platform for branded experiences with registration, analytics, and integrations. Comparable on event technology mechanics; differs in targeting external marketing events versus internal employee/ERG programs.
• Culture Amp: Employee engagement and performance platform with survey, feedback, and analytics capabilities for HR teams. Closely comparable to Five to Nine's People Experience buyer, with overlap on employee surveys and engagement measurement.
• Lattice: People management platform combining performance reviews, goals, and employee engagement surveys. Competes for the same HR/People Operations budget as Five to Nine, particularly around employee feedback and engagement.
• 15Five: Continuous performance management and employee engagement platform with pulse surveys and recognition. Comparable HR buyer, with overlap on employee feedback, eNPS measurement, and people analytics.

Broad incumbents

• Cvent: Large-scale event management and meetings software platform. Overlaps with Five to Nine on event registration and management capabilities but serves a much broader external/corporate event portfolio.
• Microsoft Viva: Employee experience platform integrated into Microsoft 365 covering engagement, learning, knowledge, and connections. Competes with Five to Nine for HR/People budget and bundles event/engagement capabilities inside Microsoft's enterprise stack.
• Eventbrite: Large-scale event registration and ticketing platform. Comparable event management mechanics, but serves consumer/external events rather than internal employee and ERG programs.

Emerging players

• Workboard: OKR and strategy execution platform with engagement and review capabilities for enterprises. Adjacent to Five to Nine's employee engagement analytics layer and shares enterprise HR/People buyer personas.
• Workplaceless: Remote/distributed workforce engagement platform with learning, community, and event components. Comparable in addressing employee engagement for distributed workforces, with overlap on event programming and community measurement.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tryfivetonine
• Facebookfacebook.com/tryfivetonine
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/five-to-nine
• Instagraminstagram.com/tryfivetonine

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors16 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Five to Nine