Tenor, providers of AI-driven leadership development solutions that help every manager be more effective, today emerged from stealth and announced its seed funding round. Base10 Partners led the $5.4M round, with participation from Reach Capital and notable angel investors across the AI, HR technology, and learning spaces.
Research shows that when managers are more effective, it has an outsized impact on the productivity and effectiveness of the overall organization. Every year, $60 billion is spent on leadership development globally - and this is set to grow, with a Gartner survey recently finding that leadership development is a top spending priority in 2025. Gartner also reported that traditional management training activities have a negative impact on managers’ effectiveness. With companies eager to try new approaches, this creates a huge opportunity for AI innovation.
Tenor brings a brand-new approach to this problem, enabled by AI. Tenor’s platform helps managers hone their communication skills through realistic voice AI simulations that are hyper-tailored to their company’s leadership philosophies. By receiving immediate coaching-style feedback, managers can track their growth and progress. With voice, text, Slack, and Teams integrations, Tenor's AI leadership coach can help managers to grow their skills in the flow of work. Enterprise-ready from day one, Tenor is SOC 2 Type 1 Certified, integrates with learning management systems, ad has built-in AI trust and safety features. And Tenor will soon integrate across the HR stack, making the coaching experience personalized and contextual to each manager.