Dandi was a DEI company

Today, we’re sharing some difficult news: as of Wednesday, February 19, 2025, we will be winding down Dandi’s operations.

Starting in 2018, we built a DEI analytics product that our customers genuinely loved—our NPS consistently exceeded 80, we achieved nearly $1.5M in ARR with 210% YoY growth, and we maintained a 142% net revenue retention rate.

Alongside companies like Microsoft and Adobe, we were honored with a Fast Company Innovation by Design award, and Google’s developer blog spotlighted our novel work with AI. We are incredibly proud of the business we built and the positive impact we had.

Despite these successes, we encountered significant headwinds along the way. The market downturn that began in early 2023, combined with the shifting legal and political landscape surrounding DEI, created challenges that ultimately proved insurmountable.

It might be tempting to attribute our fate to the most recent presidential election. While political leadership undeniably influences perceptions of many things, DEI included, the reality is that DEI was in trouble long before.

The 2023 Supreme Court ruling striking down affirmative action had an undeniable effect on our business and the DEI space as a whole. Following SCOTUS, we saw a sharp, and ultimately irreversible, decline in our monthly lead volume. 

After the ruling, we worked hard to stay ahead of the shifting landscape. We repositioned Dandi with a more general HR focus, introduced powerful AI features, and continued serving our customers and growing the business.

At the same time, larger market forces were at play. Venture dollars increasingly flowed toward AI-driven startups, while HR tech—a category that tends to fall in and out of favor with investors—found itself out of vogue in an uncertain economy.

Ultimately, it was this confluence of factors, not just resistance to DEI, that led to Dandi’s closure.

Despite the very public DEI pullbacks by some companies, many organizations today remain steadfast in their commitment to DEI. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because they have seen firsthand how it strengthens their culture and drives better business outcomes.

One of the hardest parts of winding down Dandi is no longer being able to work with these businesses. In our experience, DEI professionals are some of the most genuine, thoughtful, and dedicated people in the business world. It has been an honor to work with them.

Dandi was founded on the belief that a data-driven approach could help remove roadblocks for DEI practitioners. While DEI now faces challenges far greater than statistics, we still believe that an intersectional, numbers-backed approach can lead to more productive conversations on difficult topics like race, gender, and sexuality. 

While it is bittersweet to say goodbye to Dandi and our team, we are deeply grateful.

Thank you to our customers, who saw value in what we were building and worked alongside us to create a product that delivered true value for employees everywhere.

Thank you to our investors, who stood by us from day one and supported us through turbulent times. Thank you to every person who contributed to Dandi—employees, interns, consultants, advisors, and supporters who poured their time, talent, and passion into this mission. Thank you to our families.

We don’t know what the future holds for DEI. But we do know this: the goal of building a workplace where everyone has an equal chance to belong and succeed is noble and worth fighting for. We salute all who continue this work.

With gratitude,

Team Dandi