R
Refresh.io
Helping discover common ground that creates better conversations and builds stronger relationships
About Refresh.io
Refresh.io was established in 2011 by co-founders Bhavin Shah and Paul Tyma, positioning itself as a social insights generator. The company's core offering was an iOS and web application designed to act as a digital briefing book for professionals. By aggregating publicly available data from social networks like Twitter, professional networks like LinkedIn, and a user's own contacts and email, the service provided actionable insights about individuals scheduled in a user's calendar. The primary goal was to help users discover common ground and build stronger relationships with the people they were about to meet.
The business operated in the professional productivity and social intelligence market, targeting professionals who wanted to be better prepared for their meetings. Its service scanned for mutual interests, shared passions, and important moments to provide a contextual dossier on meeting attendees. The company secured approximately $10 million in Series A funding in a 2013 round that included investors like Redpoint Ventures, CRV, and Foundation Capital.
Co-founder Bhavin Shah, who served as CEO, brought a wealth of entrepreneurial experience, having previously taken companies from inception to scale. His background includes degrees in Computer Science and an MA in Education, Technology & Business from Stanford University. This experience in technology and business was pivotal in shaping Refresh.io's product. Before Refresh.io, Shah was involved with companies like Gazillion Entertainment and LeapFrog. Co-founder Paul Tyma served as the CTO.
In April 2015, the professional networking giant LinkedIn acquired Refresh.io for an undisclosed amount. Following the acquisition, the Refresh.io app was shut down, and the service stopped accepting new users. A significant portion of the Refresh.io team, including the co-founders, transitioned to LinkedIn to integrate their technology and expertise into LinkedIn's products, aiming to provide predictive insights to a global professional user base of over 347 million at the time.
Source: Dealroom company dataAt a glance
- Status
- Acquired
- Founded
- 2011
- Headquarters
- Palo Alto, United States
- Open positions
- None listed
- Dealroom signal
- 54.3/100
- Industry
- Jobs Recruitment, Enterprise Software
- Sector
- Other B2B Software, Analytics, Social, Relationship Management, Community, Freemium
- Business model
- SaaS
- Client focus
- b2c
Knowledge graph
More headlines
Funding history
Company financing events and reported valuations.
| Deal type | Date | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACQUISITION✓Exit | Apr 2015 | $0 | — | — | |
| SERIES A✓Equity / VC | Oct 2013 | $10M | $40M | Undisclosed | — |
Growth signals
Latest recorded traffic for Refresh.io is 310 monthly website visits, up 416.7% over the last three months.
Similar companies
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Investments and acquisitions
Recent portfolio relationships for companies that also act as investors or acquirers.
Investors
From Dealroom's funding and investor records, grouped by the round each investor first entered.
Other known investors2 additional known investors
LinkedIn
Redpoint
Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.
Global footprint
Market sentiment
An AI-synthesised read of the highest-engagement posts about Refresh.io on X, ranked by likes and reposts, corporate channels excluded.
Reading the room on X — pulling top posts and synthesizing themes…
Source: X recent search ranked by engagement (likes + retweets) · Synthesis by Claude · Cached for 1 hour
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