Donut
Donut is an AI-powered employee experience platform delivered in Slack and Microsoft Teams, automating onboarding, peer connections, recognition, and video facilitation for more than 20,000 teams worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Donut does
Donut Technologies Inc. is a New York-based, privately held software company founded in 2016 that builds an AI-powered employee experience platform delivered natively inside Slack and Microsoft Teams. Its core product combines Donut Journeys (an automated workflow engine for onboarding, training, mentorship, and offboarding with 17 customizable message types), Donut Channels (smart-matched Intros, Watercooler prompts, Profiles, and automated Celebrations), Gatheround (an interactive video facilitation platform with AI agenda creation and note-taking), and Donut Shoutouts (peer recognition with points and gift cards from 100+ retailers). Underlying capabilities include AI-powered smart matching for introductions, AI-generated conversation starters and meeting summaries, and integrations with 50+ HRIS platforms (Workday, BambooHR, Greenhouse), plus Zoom, Google Calendar, FigJam, and Okta SSO. The platform is used by more than 20,000 teams including Slack, Zapier, GitLab, Buffer, Anthropic, Perplexity, Ramp, Vercel, Calendly, Lyft, and Okta.
Donut operates a freemium SaaS model with a free tier, a Standard plan starting at $74/month (annual) and a Premium plan starting at $119/month (annual), billed per active user, plus an Enterprise tier for organizations over 500 employees with custom pricing, dedicated Customer Success Managers, and annual invoicing. Distribution is product-led through the Slack App Directory, Microsoft AppSource, and a self-serve signup at app.donut.ai, supplemented by enterprise field sales for larger deals and earned media coverage in Bloomberg, Wired, WSJ, and TechCrunch. The company has raised $12M to date (October 2020 round led by Accel and FirstMark with Bloomberg Beta, Salesforce Ventures, and Slack Fund participating) and operates with a team of 11-50 employees.
Donut firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Donut
- Legal name
- Donut Technologies Inc.
- Website
- https://donut.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Donut is an AI-powered employee experience platform delivered in Slack and Microsoft Teams, automating onboarding, peer connections, recognition, and video facilitation for more than 20,000 teams worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Donut industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Employee Experience Software
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Managed Workplace Services (DaaS/Workplace-as-a-Service) (BPAEAIAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Conversational Marketing & Chat Lead Capture (Chatbots, Live Chat) (BPAFAKAJ)
Keywords
Where Donut is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Donut business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription SaaS - Standard Plan: Starting at $74/month billed annually ($89 monthly). Includes unlimited Intros, Watercooler topics, Celebrations messages, advanced intros settings, full topic library, HRIS sync, and universal gift cards.
- Subscription SaaS - Premium Plan: Starting at $119/month billed annually ($149 monthly). Includes everything in Standard plus unlimited Shoutouts, unlimited messages per Journey, unlimited automations, prebuilt Journeys, and Enterprise Grid multi-workspace support.
- Enterprise Subscription: Custom pricing for teams over 500 employees with dedicated Customer Success Manager, priority support, annual invoice billing. Pricing based on number of active Donut users.
- Free Plan: 永久免费层级，包含有限功能：1个Slack频道的Intros、Watercooler和Celebrations；每轮最多24名用户；3条消息的1个Journey自动化；Google Calendar和Zoom集成。
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for getting started with basic team connection features |
| Subscription | Annual | Best for building networks and morale across teams |
| Subscription | Annual | Best for automations and built-in recognition programs |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Ultimate scale for large enterprises with dedicated support |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Donut product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Donut is an AI-powered employee experience platform delivered as native integrations within Slack and Microsoft Teams. It provides automated employee journeys (onboarding, training, mentorship, offboarding), AI-matched peer introductions, milestone celebrations, peer recognition with rewards, and AI-facilitated video sessions through Gatheround. The platform is built for HR and People Operations teams to scale connection, engagement, and culture programs across remote, hybrid, and in-person organizations.
Product overview
Donut is an AI-powered employee experience platform that unifies onboarding, connections, recognition, facilitation, milestones, and workflows into one integrated platform delivered in Slack and Microsoft Teams. The core platform consists of three main products: Donut Journeys (automated employee journey automation for onboarding/offboarding/training), Donut Channels (connection features including Intros, Profiles, Watercooler, and Celebrations), and Gatheround by Donut (interactive video facilitation). Additional products include Donut Shoutouts (peer-to-peer recognition), Donut for Microsoft Teams (Teams-specific integration), Donut for FigJam (whiteboard exercises), and Donut Icebreakers for Zoom. The platform integrates with 50+ HRIS platforms, Greenhouse ATS, and communication tools like Slack, Teams, Zoom, and Google Calendar. Donut serves over 20,000 companies including Slack, Zapier, GitLab, Buffer, Anthropic, and Vercel.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Donut Journeys: Automated employee journeys platform for onboarding, training, mentorship, and offboarding workflows.
- Donut Channels
- Gatheround by Donut
- Donut Shoutouts
- Donut Integrations
- Donut for Microsoft Teams
- Donut for FigJam
Products and services
- Donut Journeys Automated employee journey platform that creates reusable, customizable workflows for onboarding, training, mentorship, events, and offboarding. Delivers automated messages, action items, and tasks across Slack and email, and integrates with 50+ HRIS platforms to auto-enroll new hires. Built for HR and People Ops teams.
- Donut Channels Employee engagement module featuring Donut Intros (AI-matched virtual coffee chats), Donut Profiles, Watercooler (AI-generated conversation prompts), and Celebrations (automated birthday and work anniversary messages) within Slack workspaces.
- Gatheround by Donut All-in-one AI-powered video platform for running onboarding, training, and coaching sessions. Includes magic agenda builder that transforms Google Slides into interactive experiences, AI-generated quizzes, breakout rooms, automatic note-taking, and 80%+ verbal participation rate.
- Donut Shoutouts Peer-to-peer recognition feature enabling teams to celebrate wins, reinforce core values, and reward impact directly in Slack. Includes customizable point allowances, rewards store, and digital gift cards from 100+ global retailers for scalable recognition programs.
- Donut for Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams-specific integration bringing Donut's automatic teammate introductions, customizable pairing frequency, and engagement features into the Teams workspace, with Outlook calendar integration for scheduling.
- Donut for FigJam Widget for Figma's FigJam collaborative whiteboard featuring 9 exercises including Creative Warmups (Alternate Uses, Drawsome, Wild Ideas Only), Design Thinking exercises (8 Minutes 8 Ideas, Round Robin, Like Wish Wonder), and Share & Tell activities.
- Donut Icebreakers for Zoom Icebreaker prompts and activities for Zoom meetings. Includes access to 300+ icebreaker prompts, 10+ customizable packs, unlimited custom prompts, and single-host activation for easy participation.
- Onboarding Solutions Automated new hire onboarding solution built on Donut Journeys. Includes buddy introductions, automated messages, task management, 30/60/90-day check-ins, and HRIS sync for seamless enrollment, designed for HR teams scaling onboarding across the organization.
- Mentorship Program Mentorship program automation built on Donut Journeys. Creates reusable templates for various departments, roles, and locations, automatically enrolls participants, matches mentors with mentees, and automates communications for HR and L&D teams.
- Training Programs Automated learning and development programs built on Donut Journeys. Configures training workflows for Slack or email, delivers messages and action items automatically, and includes templates for new manager training, technical training, and security training.
- Recognition Solutions Culture-building recognition programs combining Donut Shoutouts with milestone celebrations. Ties recognition to company values with specific and timely rewards including digital gift cards and custom swag, designed for HR and Culture teams.
- Belonging and Inclusion
Quantifiable outcome
- 84% of Donut users are more collaborative in work projects
- +8 more outcomes
Companies that use Donut
Customer profileNamed customers18 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Donut technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration11 records
AI capability5 records
Feature6 records
Donut partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and key.
- SlackcorePrimary integration platform. Donut for Slack enables Intros, Watercooler conversations, Celebrations, Shoutouts recognition, and Journeys automation. 64,409 teams have added Donut to Slack. Deep product integration with Slack workspace structure.
- Microsoft TeamscoreDonut for Microsoft Teams enables automatic teammate pairings for virtual or in-person meetings with unlimited Intros and Outlook calendar integration. 20,341 users of Donut for Teams with 37,563 intros made.
- ZoomcoreDonut Icebreakers for Zoom with 300+ icebreaker prompts and 10+ customizable packs. 20,341 users. Host meetings with engagement features including walk-on music and in-room reactions.
- FigJam (Figma)coreDonut for FigJam widget with 9 exercises for creative meetings including Creative Warmups, Design Thinking exercises, and Share & Tell activities. 34,000+ users have tried the widget.
- Google CalendarcoreIntegration with Google Calendar for seamless scheduling. 17,633+ teams have connected Donut's Slack integration to Google Calendar.
- WorkdaykeyHRIS integration for importing employee data including start dates, managers, and roles for automated enrollment and milestone celebrations.
- BambooHRkeyHRIS integration partner for syncing employee data to automate Donut programs and celebrations.
- GreenhousekeyATS integration that automatically pulls start date, manager, and hiring source to trigger personalized onboarding workflows in Donut.
- OktakeyIdentity management integration for enterprise authentication and security.
- 50+ HRIS PlatformskeyIntegrates with 50+ top HRIS platforms to import employee data like start dates, managers, roles for automated enrollment into Donut Journeys, work anniversary celebrations, and introductions.
Scale indicators17 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Donut competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Culture Amp: Culture Amp is a leading employee experience platform covering engagement surveys, performance management, and onboarding. Overlaps with Donut on the onboarding and employee engagement use cases, but operates as a broader, established HR analytics suite rather than a Slack/Teams-native engagement layer.
- 15Five: 15Five combines continuous performance management with employee engagement surveys and recognition. Overlaps with Donut on engagement, feedback, and recognition use cases, but positions as a broader performance/people-ops platform.
- Lattice: Lattice is a performance management and employee engagement platform covering reviews, goal tracking, and engagement surveys. Adjacent to Donut on engagement and feedback, but Lattice owns the HR analytics layer rather than Slack/Teams-native automation.
Direct peers
- Kudos: Kudos is an employee recognition and engagement platform that supports peer shoutouts, milestone celebrations, and culture analytics — directly overlapping with Donut Shoutouts and Celebrations. Both serve mid-market and enterprise HR buyers.
- HeyTaco: HeyTaco is a Slack-native peer recognition app that lets teammates send tacos and redeem rewards — a direct competitor to Donut Shoutouts in the Slack-first recognition category. Both rely on Slack App Directory distribution and rewards store integrations.
- Bonusly: Bonusly is a peer-to-peer recognition and rewards platform with deep Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations, directly competing with Donut Shoutouts. Both products target HR teams seeking to reinforce culture through digital rewards and recognition inside collaboration tools.
- Polly: Polly is a Slack and Microsoft Teams-native survey and engagement platform used for pulse surveys, eNPS, and team feedback. Competes with Donut on engagement measurement and team connection workflows inside collaboration tools.
- Motivosity: Motivosity is a peer recognition, employee feedback, and engagement platform that competes directly with Donut Shoutouts, Celebrations, and engagement workflows. Both target HR teams seeking to build culture through peer-to-peer recognition.
- Range: Range is a team check-in and meetings platform that integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams for standups, pulse surveys, and async updates. Overlaps with Donut Channels and Watercooler for team engagement inside collaboration workspaces.
Emerging players
- Workboard: Workboard is an OKR and strategy execution platform with engagement and recognition features. Partial overlap with Donut on culture/reinforcement, but anchored in strategy-execution rather than team connection and onboarding automation.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Donut social profiles
Digital presenceDonut compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
Donut financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Donut leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Donut funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Donut M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Donut
What does Donut do?
Donut is an AI-powered employee experience platform delivered as native integrations within Slack and Microsoft Teams. It provides automated employee journeys (onboarding, training, mentorship, offboarding), AI-matched peer introductions, milestone celebrations, peer recognition with rewards, and AI-facilitated video sessions through Gatheround. The platform is built for HR and People Operations teams to scale connection, engagement, and culture programs across remote, hybrid, and in-person organizations.
Is Donut a public or private company?
Donut is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Donut founded?
Donut was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Donut based?
Donut is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Donut make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Subscription SaaS - Standard Plan is the primary driver. The others are subscription SaaS - Premium Plan, enterprise Subscription and free Plan.
Who are Donut's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Culture Amp, 15Five and Lattice. Direct peers are Kudos, HeyTaco, Bonusly, Polly, Motivosity and Range. Workboard is listed as an emerging player.
Does Donut have an API?
No public API is recorded for Donut.
What industry is Donut in?
Donut's product category is Employee Experience Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAEAIAA, Managed Workplace Services (DaaS/Workplace-as-a-Service), with a secondary code of BPAFAKAJ, Conversational Marketing & Chat Lead Capture (Chatbots, Live Chat). Its NAICS code is 518 and its SIC code is 7372.