Prime Highlights :
- Upeka Bee, founder and CEO of DianaHR, has been named to the 2026 Female Founders 500 list published by Inc. Magazine, recognizing influential women entrepreneurs.
- DianaHR secured $3.7 million in seed funding led by SNR Ventures to expand its AI-driven HR platform and scale services for growing businesses.
Key Facts :
- Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 500 list recognizes 500 women entrepreneurs making a major impact through innovation, leadership, and business growth.
- DianaHR is an AI-powered HR platform that helps small and medium-sized businesses automate tasks such as onboarding, compliance, payroll coordination, and benefits management.
Background :
Upeka Bee, founder and CEO of DianaHR, has been named to Inc. magazine’s prestigious 2026 Female Founders 500 list, an annual ranking honouring the most dynamic and impactful women entrepreneurs in the United States, who are reshaping industries through innovation, growth and leadership. Bee received recognition within the Human Resources category, becoming part of one of the best groups of women-owned companies that brought in a total of $12.2 billion in capital and $12.3 billion in revenue in 2025.
DianaHR is a fast-growing HR-technology company that’s committed to simplifying workforce management for businesses of all scales. It provides an HR-as-a-Service platform that uses artificial intelligence to automate administrative functions, including payroll handling, compliance requirements, employee onboarding and benefits administration. The platform intends to improve efficiency in people operations while reducing operational burden.
Bee served as head of engineering for the HR platform at Gusto before she launched DianaHR. The DianaHR platform automates many tedious HR tasks for business owners with no HR representative. The company claims that its system can handle most back-office HR operations through automation, which will enable small-business owners to save more than 15 hours per week while decreasing their HR expenses by approximately 60 percent.
The startup has gained momentum since its launch. DianaHR has obtained $3.7 million in seed funding, led by SNR Ventures, to help the company grow its AI-based platform and expand its business operations. After they introduced the product, for the following quarters, the company has cashed in revenue, which is growing by leaps and bounds.
The multi-stage evaluation process of Inc.’s Female Founders 500 list considers metrics such as revenue growth, funding, and sales performance, as well as qualitative factors like innovation, brand impact, and social influence. The 2026 Honorees will be responsible for bringing in a grand total of about $12.3 billion in revenue in 2025 and have netted about $12.2 billion in funding until now.
On her recognition, Bee said that her mission is to ensure HR systems “scale with a company’s growth rather than slow it down.” With growing demand for AI workplace solutions, DianaHR plans to create new automated systems to assist startups and small businesses in managing their employees while they work to grow their operations.
The honor clearly indicates an increased presence of women-run technology and business service startups in the market of artificial intelligence and workplace management.
