Blog
January 22, 2025
We're thrilled to announce that Holly has raised $2.2M in pre-seed funding to transform how millions of Americans find meaningful careers in public service. We also wanted to take a moment to make sure to share our gratitude for our incredible partners and our vision for the future of government work.
Government faces a workforce crisis. Nearly a million positions sit vacant. Hiring takes 135 days on average. HR teams are overwhelmed with paperwork instead of focusing on finding and supporting great talent. And public service is more vital than ever across public safety, public health, and community services. Meanwhile, AI and automation are transforming how we work – but these innovations haven't reached the public sector workers who could benefit most.
We started Holly because we believe public servants deserve better tools. Working in Baltimore City, Brendan scaled a public health program from 0 to 275 staff in under a year during COVID. At Propel, Cherie helped build systems serving over 5 million low-income Americans. We've seen firsthand both the challenges of government operations and the incredible impact of well-designed technology that can serve the public good. These experiences showed us that the right technology, built with empathy and in concert with its users, can transform how the government serves its communities.
Holly's core belief is that public servants deserve the highest standards – "good enough for government work" should mean the very best. That means building software that outperforms current public sector tech by a step change, oriented around a deep understanding of public sector needs and how we can better serve public servants.
To deliver on this mission, we're building a team and culture grounded in our key principles: we lead with trust, empowering our team to own their work and fostering honest, transparent communication; we learn by doing, embracing rapid iteration and treating setbacks as opportunities to improve; and we move with conviction, tackling challenges with scrappy creativity and building practical solutions that work within government's unique requirements while pushing the boundaries of what's possible.
Our first product focus is job design – using AI to transform how governments create and manage position descriptions. It's a critical pain point where automation can immediately help HR teams work faster and smarter. It can set hiring back for months, and city leaders tell us, “by the time we post the job, we’ve already lost.” But this is just the beginning.
We're building a comprehensive platform that will modernize every aspect of government workforce management. Our vision is to help HR teams harness AI and automation to eliminate repetitive tasks, make data-driven decisions, and focus on what matters most: finding, supporting, and retaining great talent.
Long-term, we want to fundamentally change how Americans view public service careers. Imagine a world where top talent actively chooses government work, where hiring happens in days not months, and where public servants have the modern tools they need to serve their communities effectively. We believe this transformation starts with giving HR teams the technology they need to build the workforce of tomorrow.
We're excited to be building Holly with partners who reflect our vision for the future of public service – diverse, forward-thinking, and deeply committed to transformation. Our lead investor, Christine Keung at J2 Ventures, brings a unique combination of government leadership and high-growth startup operator experience that immediately resonated with us. Having served as San Jose's Chief Data Officer, she understands the problem and opportunity firsthand. She's already proven invaluable in helping us navigate both the public sector landscape and our growth trajectory.
David Pérez-Hernández and Roble Ventures bring a deep focus on connecting untapped human potential with modern workplace demands that aligns with our mission. David understands the power of creating new pathways to opportunity, and Roble founder Sergio Monsalve’s expertise taking several prominent future of work companies from formation to exit shows their commitment to driving lasting transformations in how people work.
We're also proud to partner with Gaingels, the largest investor network focused on backing and supporting companies building diverse and inclusive cultures. Their investment reflects our commitment to reflect the communities we serve.
We believe diverse perspectives at the board and investor level are crucial for creating technology that serves all Americans, and we’re excited to be working with partners that bring unique viewpoints and sharp opinions to the table.
Our first pilot – the City of Long Beach – exemplifies the forward-thinking partners we’re so excited to serve. They’re in the midst of a massive initiative, approved by ballot measure, to restructure their Civil Service Commission and Department of Human Resources to enable faster collaboration. All the while, they’re closely attuned to process improvements that will move hiring and reclassifications along – and to deploy new technology that makes it possible to move ever faster.
Long Beach is one of the most innovative cities in the country; as a founding member of the GovAI Coalition, they’re shaping policy and practices on how local governments can use AI to make systems more equitable, more effective, and more evidence-based. We’re proud to serve them and look forward to sharing as we achieve our pilot outcomes.
This funding helps us accelerate our mission, but we need more partners to create lasting change. We're actively looking to connect with:
Want to learn more? We’re hosting a webinar from 5-6pm on Wednesday, February 12th, to walk through our platform and share how we can help local governments design the workforce of tomorrow. Sign up here!
If you're interested in being part of this transformation, we're also excited to announce that we're seeking additional partner jurisdictions for a shared learning cohort starting this spring. We also intend to hire additional software engineers later this spring and customer success roles over the summer.
Reach out to us directly at brendan@hollygov.com or cherie@hollygov.com – we'd love to hear from you.
Here's to building the future of public service,
Brendan and Cherie
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