Startup profile: Pryze

  • Founded by: Natalia Micheletti and Tim Hylton
  • Year founded: 2018
  • Headquarters: Arlington, VA
  • Sector: Human resources, consumer technology 
  • Funding and valuation: $1 million raised to date, valuation undisclosed
  • Key ecosystem partners: Unstuck Labs, Arlington Economic Development 

Restaurants and retail typically don’t have KPIs like office jobs. A Northern Virginia startup wants to change that. 

Pryze is an app that tracks various aspects of employee activity, and then turns success into points that translate into actual gift cards. It covers everything from timeliness to cell phone use to sales. The goal? Boosting productivity in shift work while also helping employees feel more valued.

Cofounder Natalia Micheletti previously ran food retail operations — she owned franchises of Marble Slab Creamery and Great American Cookies — and said she struggled to get employees to stay off their phones and keep up their “day one energy.” She tried a bunch of things that didn’t work, including reprimanding workers and posting signs, she said.  

Pryze boasts big-name customers across 57 locations, including Amazon Warehouses, Sky Zone Trampoline Park and Dave’s Hot Chicken.

“Obviously, none of that worked,” Micheletti told Technical.ly. “It’s negative. It’s not trackable, not repeatable.”

So she set out to build something that did work. Pryze uses AI to generate insights by pulling data from point-of-service systems and guest reviews to see which employees are on track or who needs help. The app also gives suggestions on how to improve performance. 

“Basically anything that a business uses: inventory checklist, food waste trackers,” Micheletti said, “and becoming an operating system for the business, connecting all of those fragmented technologies that they’ve had forever and then turning it into one system of action.”

Pryze, based in Arlington, boasts big-name customers across 57 locations, including Amazon Warehouses, Sky Zone Trampoline Park and Dave’s Hot Chicken. McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts participated during the pilot phase, and the company is working to scale and provide other technologies for those customers, Micheletti said. 

Expanding from restaurants to the feds

Since its founding, Pryze has raised about $1 million, including from its lead early-stage investor Level Up Ventures. In June 2024, Arlington Economic Development contributed $50,000 through its Catalyst Grant Program. 

Two people stand indoors, one holding a "PRYZE" box and the other holding a "DUNKIN' DUNKIN' DUNKIN'" card; a large gift-wrapped TV is in front of them.
Pryze cofounder Natalia Micheletti (right) shows off her app at a Dunkin’ (Courtesy)

Across the labor market, workers are largely staying put due to economic uncertainty in the US. This doesn’t affect Pryze’s business model, Micheletti said, because Pryze doesn’t necessarily focus on firms with a lot of turnover. 

“Some of those are some of the best clients,” she said, referring to companies with high retention rates. “The clients that I keep the longest, because I’m really not convincing them.”

On the contrary, Pryze is growing. It doubled its staff in the last few months to 12 people, and expanded to a larger office space in Arlington. Pryze is also stepping out of its traditional shift work vertical: It recently landed a contract with the federal government to help increase employee engagement. (Micheletti declined to share more details about the deal.)

Micheletti and her cofounder Tim Hylton sold their franchises and used the money to get Pryze started. Early on, they were a part of the local accelerator program Unstuck Labs to get guidance and help building the product. That support led them to stay in Arlington, she said. 

Workers can use rewards to buy lunch — or give back  

For tracking cell phone use while at work, employees sign onto the Pryze app and indicate they are starting their shift. They then close the app and their phone, and the platform will detect if they open their phone during work. 

Messaging to employees is also intentional. It’s not negative, Micheletti said, with prompts like, “You’re only 100 points away from that gift card!” 

The more points a person earns, the more they can cash out. The service typically costs businesses about $10 per employee, she said, which includes the gift cards from popular retailers like Chipotle and Best Buy. 

That’s what sets it apart from other companies in the industry, Micheletti said. She cited New York’s Onaroll, another rewards and tracking platform, as Pryze’s main competitor. 

Employees can also use their points to donate money to nonprofits, she said.  

“We’re adding that competition, that human psychology aspect behind it,” Micheletti said. “Everyone loves free stuff.”

This story was reported with support from our partner Arlington Economic Development, a launchpad for innovation and a top destination for businesses of all sizes.