Ethena is a modern compliance training platform that delivers bite-sized compliance trainings over time via Slack or email. Its content and delivery method cover topics ranging from Code of Conduct to diversity, equity and inclusion and hiring and interviewing. More than 50,000 active users from companies including Netflix, Zendesk, Carta, and Figma complete training activities on the platform each month. The company intends to use the funds to build out additional compliance product lines and expand its core training technology. Ethena raised $30m in Series B funding. The company was founded by Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen and is based in Brooklyn, NY. Ethena offers short, 5-minute “nudges” (videos, images, comic‑style content) delivered monthly or quarterly to meet learners where they are via Slack, magic links, or mobile. The product replaces hour‑long, one‑off compliance videos with bite‑sized, personalized content covering topics from harassment and discrimination to anti‑bribery. Ethena charges customers on an annual, per‑employee basis and has assembled a client portfolio of over 150 companies, including Netflix, Zoom, and Figma. Since launching in early 2020, the company has grown ARR 29x (June 2020–June 2021) and currently employs 25 people. Ethena positions itself to reinvent a perceived broken market for mandatory training by increasing frequency and relevance of content. Ethena sends employees five-minute monthly "nudges" with short lessons to replace the traditional one-hour annual anti-harassment workshop and drive behavioral change. The company is expanding beyond anti-sexual-harassment content into broader compliance topics such as financial compliance and codes of conduct, responding to enterprise demand. Ethena experiments with formats like graphic novels and podcasts and structures curriculum to be consumed over the course of a year, enabling repetition and modern scenario coverage (e.g., Slack culture, Zoom etiquette). Founders Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen emphasize learning approaches informed by military data on adult learning. Ethena reports over 90% positive feedback from 150,000 in-app learner notes and saw learner growth of more than 250% quarter-over-quarter in Q4. The startup has closed contracts with customers including Netflix, Zoom and Zendesk and says more than 20,000 active employees complete its monthly training. Ethena offers a browser-based, SaaS anti-harassment training platform that sends personalized short-form “nudges” via email or Slack on a recurring basis. Lessons are tailored by managerial status, state law and other factors and run about five to ten minutes each. The product is designed to replace infrequent, in-person workshops and to adapt content to current contexts (for example, online/Zoom harassment during COVID-19). Ethena piloted in November 2019 and launched in January, and charges per seat at $4 per employee per month (or $48 per year). The company reports 50 customers. Ethena is working with a peer-reviewed journal to study whether effective training correlates with higher retention, and it targets small, scaling companies as early adopters. Ethena builds adaptive, customizable sexual-harassment training delivered in short, recurring “nudges” rather than annual hour-long modules. The product personalizes content by role and prior knowledge, and the team plans sector-specific releases in the first quarter of next year. Ethena includes analytics to flag knowledge gaps by team or office so managers can target interventions. It is currently midway through a pilot and plans a wider rollout next quarter at a listed price of $4 per employee per month. The company was founded by Anne Solmssen and Roxanne Petraeus, whose backgrounds in tech, the Army, and consulting inform the product and go-to-market approach. Early funding has been used to start hiring.

Total raised

$50M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Jun 2022