Pivotal Labs
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development consulting |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Founder | Rob Mee, Sherry Erskine |
| Fate | Renamed VMware Tanzu Labs; discontinued January 2025 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
| Products | Pivotal Tracker |
| Parent | Pivotal Software (later VMware) |
Pivotal Labs—which was later renamed VMware Tanzu Labs—functioned as an agile software development consulting firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. The organization was responsible for creating Pivotal Tracker, a project management tool, and operated as a subsidiary under Pivotal Software.
History
Established in 1989 by Rob Mee and Sherry Erskine, Pivotal Labs introduced Pivotal Tracker in 2008 to facilitate internal project coordination and teamwork. The company was acquired by EMC, and in March 2013, Pivotal Software emerged as a separate entity after being spun off from EMC and VMware.
In October 2013, Pivotal expanded its capabilities by acquiring Xtreme Labs, a Toronto-based mobile application development company serving clients such as Microsoft and Groupon.
VMware purchased Pivotal Labs in December 2019, subsequently rebranding it as VMware Tanzu Labs. After Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in November 2023, Tanzu Labs was discontinued in January 2025, with the retirement of Pivotal Tracker scheduled for April 2025.
In 2022, Rob Mee launched Mechanical Orchard, a company dedicated to updating legacy software systems through gradual rewrites enhanced by AI-driven development techniques. This firm incorporates engineering methodologies pioneered at Pivotal Labs, including test-driven development and pair programming. Mechanical Orchard has attracted substantial investment, securing $24 million in a Series A round led by Emergence Capital in early 2024 and $50 million in a Series B round led by GV (Google Ventures) in August 2024.
Products and Services
The firm specialized in software development using pair programming and offered consulting services designed to assist other organizations in implementing this approach. It provided programming consultancy to numerous leading technology companies worldwide.