Tesla’s star CFO resigned abruptly in 2023. Now, he’s reemerged to lead a $16.5 million bet on a worker rewards startup

Good morning. Zach Kirkhorn, former CFO and “master of coin” at Elon Musk'sTesla, has a new preoccupation: He is focusing his attention on Jolly, a startup aimed at boosting employee productivity and satisfaction. 

Kirkhorn led a $16.5 million Series A fundraise for Jolly, the company announced on Wednesday. The round included participation from angel investors Gokul Rajaram, Julien Codorniou, Steve Luczo, and David Marcus, and institutional support from Bullpen Capital, Dorm Room Fund, and Eigen Ventures, among others. 

Along with investing in the startup, Kirkhorn will join its board. Dean Zimberg, founder and CEO of Jolly, who in 2019 was a data science intern in Tesla’s finance org, sees this as a win for the company. 

“When I was at Tesla, I saw first-hand how Zach led his team with empathy and aligned a massive workforce with one mission—while building an operationally excellent business,” Zimberg, age 27, told me. “My time at Tesla and Zach’s stewardship has been incredibly formative to the buildout of Jolly. Having him join the team is a dream come true.”

Kirkhorn initially expressed interest in Jolly in late 2024, he said. “Jolly is a tool for CFOs, and particularly for companies that have large frontline workforces,” Zimberg said. “Zach’s professional experience fits squarely in our target customer demographic.” In addition, Kirkhorn's operating experience and perspective will be "incredibly valuable" to the company as it continues to scale, he said.

Similar to cashback on a credit card or earning miles on airlines, Jolly is a platform that allows employees to earn points by incentivizing actions that are considered value-accretive to the business, like picking up extra shifts. The points can be used on gift cards or other high-value items, according to the company. Jolly has initially targeted frontline workers. 

“Frontline employees have labor-intensive jobs, often at difficult hours of the day, and for low pay,” Zimberg said. “As a result, frontline employers are seeing unprecedented employee turnover, prompting executives to actively seek a solution.” 

Jolly works by integrating with employers' existing technology stack to leverage real-time, objective data to systematically distribute rewards, Zimberg explained. The platform automatically issues points for actions on the job considered value-accretive, he said. Among the industries Jolly currently targets are health care services, manufacturing and logistics, trucking, and retail operations. 

"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. 

CFO influence

Kirkhorn stepped down from his role at Tesla on Aug. 4, 2023. The company said in an SEC filing that during his tenure, “Tesla has seen tremendous expansion and growth.” 

The SEC document didn’t discuss any reasons for Kirkhorn’s departure. And in his LinkedIn post following the announcement, he didn’t give a reason. “Being a part of this company is a special experience and I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve done together since I joined over 13 years ago,” Kirkhorn wrote. He also thanked Musk for his “leadership and optimism, which has inspired so many people.”

However, Kirkhorn recently told the Wall Street Journal that during his time at Tesla, he was under a lot of public scrutiny. He's now seeking a "return to a world of privacy, to the extent possible,” he said. 

His departure in 2023 was a surprise to Wall Street as he was being considered by Tesla’s board as Musk’s successor for the CEO position, according to reports. He joined Tesla in March 2010 as a senior analyst in finance. When he took on the job of CFO in 2019, Tesla was valued at $50 billion, and it was worth $773 billion at the time of his departure, Fortune reported. He amassed a net worth of $590 million during his four years as CFO. 

Kirkhorn was succeeded by Vaibhav Taneja as CFO, who was previously the chief accounting officer. Recently, at a time when sentiment in Tesla stock is at its most vulnerable in months, Taneja is one of the company's insiders opting to cash in more of his shares.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com