Dive Brief:

• Former Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn led a $16.5 million Series A funding round for workforce optimization platform Jolly, according to a Wednesday press release. Kirkhorn, who left the Austin, Texas-based Tesla in 2023, will also join Jolly’s board, according to the press release.
• The New York-based platform, founded in 2022 by Dean Zimberg — who briefly worked as an analyst and intern for Tesla in business operation automation and financial planning and analysis — offers employee “rewards points” in a manner similar to airline miles or credit rewards, which can be redeemed for gift cards or other items. Jolly will utilize the funding to expand its product suite and to move into new verticals, according to the release.
• “Business leaders are under immense pressure to improve financial performance, but it's also critical to ensure employees see a direct benefit from their hard work," Kirkhorn said in a statement included in the release. “Jolly has created a unique platform that ensures employees and companies can benefit together. The best businesses are those in which everyone wins, and I look forward to supporting the Jolly team on this important work."

Dive Insight:

As well as Kirkhorn, the round included participation from several angel investors, including former PayPal President David Marcus, according to the Wednesday release. Investors including Bullpen Capital, Dorm Room Fund and Eigen Ventures also participated, the company said. Jolly currently works with more than 100 “frontline” employers in the U.S., with over 30,000 essential workers utilizing its services.

“I am particularly excited by Zach's involvement given his relevant past experience as CFO at one of the largest frontline employers, Tesla,” Zimberg said in a statement sent to CFO Dive regarding the funding round. “Zach brings incredible operating experience and strategic perspective to Jolly that will meaningfully contribute to the company's growth.” 

A 13-year veteran of Tesla, Kirkhorn served as its CFO or “Master of Coin” for four years before departing from the company in August 2023 — with a $590 million net worth, CFO Dive previously reported.

The round is the first major venture by Kirkhorn since his departure from the EV maker, according to a Wednesday report by the Wall Street Journal. His seemingly abrupt exit from Tesla drew widespread scrutiny from industry experts and executive search professionals speculating on the former finance chief’s next steps.

“I’d be surprised, even at only 38 years old, if he’s not a full time venture capital investor moving forward… I mean, he’s made equity in the $500M range, he doesn’t need to be a full time CFO again!” Josh Crist, co-managing partner for Downers Grove, Illinois-based executive search firm Crist|Kolder Associates, told CFO Dive at the time of Kirkhorn’s withdrawal from Tesla.

That was “an easy call from where I sit!,” Crist told CFO Dive in an email Wednesday. “Zach has done quite well and is putting both his expertise and, likely, his hard earned money to work. No need for him to jump back into a corporate gig given all he accomplished with Tesla.”

His participation in the Series A comes as Kirkhorn — who was under “a lot of public scrutiny” during his time as Tesla’s finance chief — seeks a return to “a world of privacy, to the extent possible,” he told the WSJ.

Kirkhorn left Tesla as scrutiny on the EV maker was intensifying in the face of a class action lawsuit and declining sales — and two years later, attention on the company has only sharpened further as Tesla CEO Elon Musk fields global backlash resulting from his actions as part of the Trump administration.

Amid Musk’s actions as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, sales of Tesla vehicles have plummeted worldwide, contributing to a decline in the value of the company’s stock. Continued company hiccups and economic uncertainty caused by potential regulatory shifts proposed by the Trump administration, such as tariffs on the auto industry, has seen Tesla’s stock lose 96% of a boost it received after the election of President Donald Trump, according to an early March report by CNN.

Although the stock has rallied some in recent weeks, Tesla still faces a host of ongoing challenges, which could continue to impact its value, CNN reported Wednesday.

In another hard hit to the EV maker this month, U.S. safety regulators recalled nearly all of the Cybertruck models on the road after issuing a warning that an exterior panel could detach while driving, leading to the risk of a crash, AP News reported.

Several Tesla executives, including its current CFO Vaibhav Taneja, have also offloaded tens of millions collectively in company stock over the past few months, coming in the aftermath of both disappointing earnings and a Delaware court judgment requiring several board members — including Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk — to pay back a collective $919 million to the EV maker.