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Lattice announced this week that it has acquired the career development startup and one-time rival Pando, making its second acquisition this year as the HR software industry consolidates talent tools around AI. Pando founder and chief executive Barbra Gago is joining Lattice as chief marketing and strategy officer. However, financial terms were not disclosed, nor did either company reveal what will happen to Pando after the deal.
In its “refounding” era, Lattice is turning to AI to scale human potential. That includes shifting away from servicing cyclical tasks and providing employees with ways to adopt more habitual behaviors, such as how to prepare their day or conversation, or steps they can take to get that promotion. The company said Pando will aid its mission through its tools for employee progression, evidence-based calibration, and real-time signals from where work happens.
Founded in 2020 by Gago, a former CMO at Miro who also held marketing roles at Culture Amp and Greenhouse, Pando was built out of her frustration with promotion decisions that came through a black box.
“I believed the vast majority of employee potential was left on the table due to legacy processes…leading to inequity, inefficiency, and the inability for companies to make smart decisions about their people,” Gago wrote in a LinkedIn post. She later added, “Companies are investing billions in AI, and the question remains: Is AI helping people become higher performing and capable of creating value for the business?”
Pando’s solution used competency rubrics tied to specific roles and levels so employees could see what was expected of them, with short-form assessments and calibration running throughout the year rather than in an annual cycle. Underneath it all was a goal to make career progression fairer for all employees. Pando’s approach gained traction as it grew to over 2,000 enterprise users, with customers including OysterHR, SHIPWELL, Codility, and casai.
In total, Pando raised $6.9 million in venture funding from Craft Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, GFC, Correlation Ventures, and individual investors such as Carta CMO Jane Alexander, Notion Chief Operating Officer Ashkay Kothari, and Intercom co-founder Des Traynor.
For Lattice, Pando is a move designed to bolster its investment in AI-native performance and people intelligence. The company made a similar move in March with the acquisition of Mandala Technology, which specialized in AI-native coaching technology. All of this will likely be used to improve the capabilities of Lattice Habits, AI agents that help employees build better work habits.
“The next era won’t be defined by which companies deploy the most AI,” said Sarah Franklin, Lattice’s CEO, in a statement. “It will be defined by which companies invest in the performance of their people and use AI to multiply human impact.”
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