Czech-Slovak AI-powered HR system Sloneek, announced that it has raised €3.6M in its largest funding round, led by Purple Ventures II, alongside Venture to Future Fund and Vision Ventures, an existing investor.

In 2022, Sloneek raised €1M from Presto Ventures and Vision Ventures, and in 2020 it received €350K from Vision Ventures.

With over triple annual growth and an expanding client base, Sloneek claims to be positioning itself for further growth in Western Europe. It expects high single-digit million-euro revenues this year.

Jan Davídek, Partner at Purple Ventures, says, “Sloneek allows HR professionals to focus on developing people and leave administrative tasks to technology, thanks to its AI tools. Behind the project is a well-aligned team of experienced professionals with a clear vision, which we fully support.”

Martin Banský, Vice Chairman & Investment Manager at Venture to Future Fund, adds, “Sloneek is a ‘startup’ only in terms of its flexibility and speed. While working with them closely during the investment process, we experienced firsthand what capable management, a refined business plan, and a clear market-entry strategy look like. That’s uncommon for startups at this stage.”

“At VFF, we’re convinced that Sloneek’s product will succeed with new customers in international markets. From our experienced perspective, they have a bright future ahead.”

Capital utilisation

Sloneek addresses the global challenges of an overheated labour market and decreasing productivity by empowering managers and HR professionals to leverage data, foster talent development, and enhance employee efficiency. 

The company minimises bureaucracy through AI integration, allowing HR teams to focus on people.

Filip Lukac, CEO of Sloneek, says, “The investment comes at the perfect time. Companies are getting ready for a new era – over half of the productive workforce now consists of Millennials and Gen Z. This presents opportunities for more efficient work but also risks if companies fail to adapt and manage this change.”

“People are, without exaggeration, the alpha and omega of any economy’s success, and we have the chance to elevate how we work with them to a whole new level. Our investors are well aware of our potential.”

Sloneek plans to use the raised funds to enhance its technological capabilities, focusing on advanced “people analytics” and improved reporting tools for HR managers, CEOs, and CFOs.

The company will also introduce advanced integrations, all aimed at supporting its ambitious goal to triple its current revenue in the coming year.

Lukac adds, “Sloneek is on track to become a category leader in HR automation and analysis. Among other things, we aim to contribute to making AI a standard in an industry where there is still significant untapped potential.”

Next stop: Italy

Sloneek operates in multiple international markets, serving clients across Europe and the US, including Lindt, Volvo, Savills, and Czech startups including Carvago and Kosik.

With its latest funding, the company aims to strengthen its presence in Western Europe, starting with Italy, while continuing to enhance its technology.

CEO Lukac says, “Italy is a very interesting market for us. On the one hand, local companies have long been struggling with a talent shortage – something the government is trying to reverse with various incentives intended to bring people back to Italy.”

“On the other hand, there is a thriving startup scene which has been successful in developing a value-added economy. Once we prove ourselves in Italy, we will use that experience to expand into other Western markets.”

Online solution for complex HR agenda

Founded in 2019 by Milan Rataj and Filip Lukac, Sloneek is a Czech-Slovak startup providing an AI-powered HR solution that streamlines processes from recruitment to offboarding. Serving companies across Czechia, Slovakia, Europe, and the U.S., Sloneek helps manage teams, develop talent, and boost efficiency.

Co-founder Lukac attributes their success to solving challenges faced by Western European companies, such as talent drain and declining productivity amid rising employee costs. Sloneek also helps businesses navigate demographic and generational changes, preserving human potential.

The platform’s strategic tools enable leadership to track performance, identify underutilised employees, and address inefficiency. By automating daily tasks, Sloneek allows HR managers to focus on employee development, productivity, and satisfaction, enhancing their impact rather than replacing them with AI.

Lukac concludes, “The average company loses 30 to 40 per cent of its employee costs due to turnover, talent loss, and hiring unsuitable candidates – an issue not limited to the Czech Republic, but commonplace. And that doesn’t even account for the missed potential stemming from low productivity.”

“These are huge sums, especially considering how expensive European labour is. HR managers could put a stop to this but they’re buried in routine tasks and rarely have time for strategic work. Sloneek is helping to change that.”

Zürich-based FLOWIT AG, a coaching platform, announced that it has secured CHF 4M (approximately €4.21M) in an oversubscribed seed funding round. The deal was announced via a LinkedIn post.

FLOWIT looks to transform the people development sector with its AI-powered platform, focusing on digital coaching specifically designed for non-desktop workers. 

The round was co-led by Vi Partners and Alstin Capital (managed by Carsten Maschmeyer), with additional backing from Daniel Gutenberg. 

Capital utilisation

The funds will help scale FLOWIT, drive international expansion, and enhance value for its customers. 

According to tech.eu, the company looks to grow its team from 20 to 50 employees by 2025 to meet demand and accelerate international expansion.

What is FLOWIT? 

Founded in 2020 by Dr. Yasemin Tahrism, Bilâl Tahris, Hosam Shahin and Stephan Müller, FLOWIT aims to boost employee engagement and business success through its intuitive HR software, designed to adapt to today’s fast-changing work environment.

Recognising that traditional annual reviews are no longer sufficient, FLOWIT offers tools like pulse surveys, real-time feedback, and skill management to help managers understand employee needs and support their development.

The company uses human-centered AI to deliver actionable insights and supports continuous improvement.

“FLOWIT provides a platform that makes diversity and inclusion a normal part of everyday life. People are developed and promoted according to their skills and not based on gender, skin colour or other factors,” says FLOWIT.

Since its launch in September 2021, the company has assisted over 70 organisations in boosting employee engagement and reducing turnover costs by up to 50 per cent. The platform’s ethos is “FLOWIT AI – made by humans for humans.”

FLOWIT evaluates only anonymised data, stored in ISO-certified data centers under DSGVO/GDPR-compliant conditions.

Munich-based WorkerHero, a recruitment technology startup, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €4M in a Series A funding round led by Mediahuis.

Existing investors, including 10x Founders and Bonsai Partners, also participated in the round.

Fund utilisation

The German company will use the capital injection to scale further and enter new industries.

In an interview with Silicon Canals, Steven Miller, co-founder of WorkerHero, discussed the criteria for targeting new industries.

“Our criteria for targeting new industries include the severity of the skilled worker shortage, the potential for technological disruption, and the overall market demand. We conduct thorough market research to identify sectors where our AI-driven platform can add the most value and where there is a significant need for efficient and effective recruiting solutions. Next to the current industries, we are planning to provide support to retail companies,” he says.

This expansion will be supported by an upgrade to a new platform version, which aims to simplify recruiting and job searching for users.

The updated version will offer an improved design and enhanced features, including advanced AI tools.

In addition, WorkerHero will prioritise international hiring to help companies recruit skilled workers from abroad.

Birth of WorkerHero

WorkerHero was founded in 2021 by Richard Fischer, Steven Miller, Michael König, and Emanuel Wernitz to address the shortage of skilled workers.

Explaining the reason behind establishing WorkerHero Steven Miller says, “The idea for WorkerHero was born out of Richard Fischer’s experience in his last position at a global corporation, where he was responsible for developing programs to attract blue-collar workers. He quickly realised that existing platforms were not tailored to the needs and requirements of these workers, leading to poor recruiting results. This inspired us to create WorkerHero, a platform specifically designed to meet the needs of skilled workers and streamline the recruiting process.”

How does it work?

Leveraging AI-driven sourcing and matching, the platform connects companies with high-quality candidates.

Miller explains their AI technology: “It considers factors such as skills, experience, location, and availability. Additionally, our AI analyses which platforms or channels are most effective in reaching specific skilled workers and automatically deploys job ads accordingly.”

Additionally, the AI continuously learns and improves from user interactions and feedback, ensuring that the candidates become more accurate over time.

“This not only speeds up the recruiting process but also significantly increases the chances of successful placements,” he adds.

Over 70,000 users have already created profiles on WorkerHero, claims the company.

Shedding light on the company’s strategy to attract users, he added, “We initially targeted the driver and logistics market during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a time of high demand for these services. We utilised a combination of digital marketing, partnerships with industry-specific job portals, and word-of-mouth referrals to attract users.”

Various companies, like Telekom, HelloFresh, and BayWa, are already using WorkHero.

“Additionally, our talent pool grew rapidly because WorkerHero places a strong emphasis on user experience and prioritises a seamless application process. And the effectiveness of our AI-driven sourcing and matching technology played a significant role in our growth so far,” he adds.

Challenges

According to Miller, one of their biggest challenges was convincing companies to adopt a new technology for their recruiting needs.

He claims that many were accustomed to traditional methods such as job portals and were sceptical of AI-driven solutions.

“We overcame this by demonstrating the effectiveness of our platform through pilot programs and showcasing successful case studies,” adds Miller.

Moving forward

WorkerHero aims to position itself as the leading recruiting platform in Europe.

The company’s objective is to make recruiting as efficient and effective as possible, helping to solve the global skilled worker shortage and supporting economic growth through better job placements.

The investor

Antwerp-based Mediahuis is an international media group in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Ireland.

“Workerhero’s outstanding performance demonstrates the effectiveness of focusing on well-defined blue-collar sectors, delivering better-matched candidates much faster than broader market players. Workerhero’s unwavering commitment to user experience and quality delivery has driven impressive growth since its inception. We are excited to support Workerhero in its future growth and look forward to seeing its continued success!” says Patrick de Wachter, Director of Corporate Development at Mediahuis.

Oxford-based ISH (Invincible Software Holdings), an active software holding company, announced on Monday, June 17, that it has acquired Staff Squared, a core HR platform based in the UK.

This marks ISH’s fourth acquisition in two years, following the successful acquisitions of Jobtoolz in June 2023, Homerun in December 2023, and Hirehive in May 2024. 

As a result, ISH’s customer count increased to over 2,200, enhancing the entire ISH group’s position in the HR software market.

Staff Squared: Simplifies HR process

Led by Bob Neveu, Staff Squared specialises in serving small—to medium-sized and growing businesses. Its core HR functionalities include absence and holiday management, staff information, company information, and more.

The company aims to simplify HR processes, making it efficient for businesses to manage their HR needs.

Currently, the UK company works with various well-known organisations such as Onecall24, NEOM Organics, HR180, Sloane Court Clinics, Apex

Ventures Fund Services Limited, West Tech Shipping, Fresh Futures, Highway Resource Solutions, Taylor & Hart, and ClearSky Logic.

Bob Neveu, CEO of Staff Squared, says, “I am immensely grateful for Staff Squared to become part of ISH. This collaboration will enable the company to accelerate its growth and better serve its customers with enhanced resources and support as I step away.”

ISH: Active software holding company

Founded by Michael Richards and Adam Reynolds, ISH was formed with the mission of developing a solid portfolio of founder-run Software as a Service (SaaS) companies.

The company achieves this by making early investments and offering support to existing teams.

By leveraging the expertise of private equity specialists and experienced SaaS entrepreneurs who have achieved multiple successful exits, ISH aims to enhance the businesses it invests in.

Adam Reynolds, co-founder and Managing Partner of ISH says, “It is a fantastic opportunity to welcome Staff Squared into the ISH family. Their brilliant HR functionalities and dedication to customer satisfaction make them a perfect fit for our expanding portfolio. With the addition of their functionalities, we’re now able to service our customers’ needs from attracting talent to managing talent. We are confident that together, we will drive Staff Squared to new heights of success.”

Amsterdam-based Alleo (formerly YourCampus), an HR platform focused on improving employee benefits and compensation, has secured €5M in a Series A round of funding. 

The Dutch startup has now raised €8.2M in total funding.

Mediahuis Ventures led the latest round alongside existing investors, including Newion, Dutch Founders Fund and ROM InWest.

Tea Elezi, an investor at Mediahuis Ventures, says, “Alleo has distinguished itself as a visionary company that is defining the future of work. Their platform uniquely allows employees to adjust their compensation to suit their life stages, providing the flexibility and personalisation that modern workers demand.”

“We are thrilled to support Alleo as it sets new standards in the employment sector and leads the evolution in secondary employment conditions.”

A new identity for growth

The rebranding from YourCampus to Alleo signifies a “new chapter” for the company, signalling its goal to make an impact in the enterprise market.

Alleo founder, Florian Gendrault, says, “With many employers struggling to meet individual needs with standard compensation packages, Alleo commits to enhancing flexibility and transparency across all aspects of employee compensation.”

“Our platform helps employees align their compensation with their personal needs by integrating tax regulations and collective agreements effectively.”

While initially serving startups, scale-ups, and SMEs, Alleo’s recent funding round will support expansion into larger corporate markets. After a successful launch in Germany, Alleo is strategically expanding its presence in the German market.

Currently, over 20 German companies and more than 100 benefit providers are engaged with Alleo’s platform, reflecting growth in the region.

A compensation and benefits platform

Founded in 2021 by Florian Gendrault, Ruben van den Boogaard, Sven Cune, George Visniuc and Adil Bougamza, Alleo claims to meet the evolving needs of the modern workforce by offering highly personalised compensation packages.

The startup says, this approach is essential in catering to diverse demographics such as Gen Z, who prioritise flexibility, Millennials navigating housing and parenting challenges, and Baby Boomers who are focused on health and retirement planning.

Alleo prioritises personalised and inclusive total compensation solutions tailored to meet the diverse needs of different generations. They aim to create a work environment where compensation and benefits packages enhance employees’ total income and well-being.

The company empowers over 100,000 users to optimise their compensation for increased purchasing power. Its clients include Picnic, Van Lanschot Kempen, Red Bull, YoungCapital, and Van der Valk, among others.

Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP), the global technology arm of Investcorp, is set to acquire a majority stake in Germany-based VEDA GmbH, an HR software and payroll-as-a-service provider in the DACH region.

VEDA’s CEO, Ralf Graessler, will retain his investment in the company following the acquisition. The transaction is anticipated to conclude in Q1 2024. However, the terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Georg Knoflach, MD at ITP says, “Investcorp Technology Partners is pleased to be investing in VEDA, a company that continues to have a leading position in the €3B DACH HR and payroll software/services market for SMEs.”

“We were impressed by the quality of VEDA’s products and go-to-market strategy, and we see incredible opportunities to support the Company as it helps more SMEs move their mission-critical HR services to the cloud.”

“We look forward to partnering with CEO Ralf Graessler and the entire VEDA team on this next phase for the Company,” adds Knoflach.

What does VEDA offer?

VEDA, headquartered in Alsdorf, Germany, is a digital HR management platform provider. The company’s solutions cover payroll, time and security, recruiting, personnel development, and learning management, aiming to streamline tasks and reduce administrative efforts. 

The company has around 170 employees serving over 1,200 customers, including MAN and Lufthansa and claims to have generated €20M in revenue in 2023.

Capital utilisation

ITP, VEDA’s first institutional investor, plans to enhance the company’s go-to-market strategy, expand its product portfolio, and focus on the growing cloud business. 

This investment will also facilitate VEDA’s growth through acquisitions in the DACH HR and payroll markets.

Ralf Graessler, CEO of VEDA says, “We are very proud to be bringing in ITP as VEDA’s first institutional investor. ITP’s knowledge of our sector and market are unparalleled and they are the perfect partner for us as we move into our next stage of growth, both in terms of digitalisation and through further acquisitions.”

“VEDA will continue to move from strength to strength under this new partnership as we bring exceptional HR software solutions and services to even more companies in the DACH region,” adds Graessler.

This is ITP’s fourth investment from its global fund, focusing on Software, Data/Analytics, Cybersecurity, and Fintech. The move aligns with ITP’s DACH region strategy, following a profitable exit from softgarden in 2022.

Brief about Investcorp

Founded in 1982, Investcorp is a global investment manager specialising in alternative investments across various sectors. With 14 offices worldwide, including in the US, Europe, GCC, and Asia, it manages over $48B in total assets under management. 

Employing around 500 people from 50 nationalities, Investcorp is active in private equity, real estate, credit, absolute return strategies, GP stakes, infrastructure, and insurance asset management.

London-based Harriet, a full-stack AI-powered solution for streamlining internal data and HR tasks, announced that it has secured £1.2M (approximately €1.39M) in a pre-seed round of funding.

The investment was led by Concept Ventures and joined by Frontline Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, and Notion Capital.

AI-powered people ops assistant

Harriet addresses poor data management hindering AI adoption in HR. As the first HR-focused AI solution, it scans and organises existing organisational data, identifies issues, and guides companies in cleaning up their data. 

According to the company, this process establishes the necessary foundations for deploying additional AI tools efficiently.

Harriet, accessible via Slack and integrated with HR tools, streamlines tasks like leave booking and policy updates. It tailors responses, addressing people management issues and providing support based on accurate documentation, removing daily friction for employees and enhancing workforce efficiencies.

Additionally, Harriet offers an anonymous channel for sensitive inquiries, such as parental leave policies, and reduces distracting micro-requests for People teams. This allows them to concentrate on more impactful actions related to culture, compensation, and training.

Despite facing intensive cuts, lean People teams can maintain high-quality employee experiences with Harriet’s support, says the startup.

Brief about Harriet

Founded in 2023, Harriet is the brainchild of Cecily Motley, ex-founder and CEO of Motley, and David Buxton, former founder and CEO of risk profile SaaS company Arachnys.

Harriet integrates with various platforms such as Google Drive, Notion, Xero, HiBob, BambooHR, and Zapier. This allows employees to make HR requests and access information directly within Slack, irrespective of where the data is stored.

The company’s technology, powered by a Large Language Model, incorporates interlocking AIs to ensure privacy, truthfulness, and accuracy. Every answer includes a source link for employee assurance, and measures are in place to protect company and employee data.

Co-founder Motley explains, “The world is heading towards a future where every employee has an AI-powered assistant – with all the major tech players racing to build one. But companies aren’t currently set-up to reap the rewards of these advancements.”

“One of the main blockers to AI adoption for companies is the state of their knowledge bank. It’s a familiar story – multiple versions of policies saved in different places which are forgotten about until someone needs them.”

“As organisations look to take advantage of AI solutions, and as teams begin to expect instant access to information and support, it’s vital to ensure tools lay the right foundations as well as unlock efficiencies.”

“That’s why Harriet has been designed to clean up data, get companies onto the right track, and then offer the daily assistance staff and People teams are looking for.”

Motley further adds, “HR and People teams are responsible for so many vital things – from culture to compensation. But too many colleagues see them as just a route to key information, like their payslips and P60s. This means HR teams are drowning in fiddly, low-value admin tasks. 

“Harriet AI is freeing them from this burden; allowing HR teams to focus on their real purpose and show how valuable their role in a company really is.”

“As a student, I didn’t have the opportunity to do any kind of study-related work on the side,” says Micky Chen, co-founder of Minite.

While working at restaurants, Chen says she wished for an opportunity to practically apply her university learnings and better prepare for her future career.

It is not uncommon to find students working side jobs at fast food restaurant chains or other workplaces which may not directly relate to their university career.

According to Eurostat, 23 per cent of young people aged between 15 and 29 years in formal education were also employed in 2021.

In 2021, nearly 70 per cent of students and apprentices in the Netherlands aged between 15 and 29 years were employed while still in education.

This frustrating lack of relevant side jobs led Chen and her sister Linky Chen to start Minite (pronounced Minute), a digital platform that connects vetted student freelancers with companies offering side jobs in marketing, sales, and IT.

A minute of your time

The story of Minite, our startup of the month, is essentially the story of Chen sisters and its origin is intertwined with their personal experience.

After graduation, Chen says she got rejected by a major Dutch bank for not being “identifiable” with their average customer.

She says, “That’s when I decided that we should all be judged on relevant data, rather than ethnicity, gender, or age.”

She further adds that they chose this name to highlight the importance of a minute of your time.

“The original meaning behind it was,” she explains, “that our students can offload companies from a lot of work so that they can save time and focus on their core business.”

Even though its HQ is in Rotterdam, the sisters are based in Almere, which forms part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area and the startup will soon open an office in Amsterdam on December 1 in addition to a shared office space at the Raamgracht.

It should not come as a surprise that Minite is a hybrid organisation where Chen says office days are used to do “a lot of collaborative stuff and meetings.”

She explains that they are able to solve and discuss little things while sitting next to each other while remote days are used for “focus time” to build key features or work on things that can be done in silence.

Since its start in 2020, Minite has raised €300,000 in seed funding, facilitated thousands of matches, and has also expanded its leadership team with Kristóf Vass, who co-founded an AI startup, joining as CTO in September.

Chen sees three as the magic number for a leadership team and is useful in decision-making. “We’re a very well-oiled machine and I love how quickly we can put ideas to work,” she adds.

Data-driven hiring

With Minite, Chen says they are focused on solving two major pain points for students.

The first is the lack of study-related opportunities and the second is finding those opportunities without any bias.

“I believe it’s very beneficial and important to offer study-related work to students so that they can get a glimpse of the ‘real working world’ early on,” says Chen.

While all other recruiting platforms do get a lot of things right, they don’t necessarily serve students with opportunities that help them build a strong CV, make informed career decisions, and grow both personally and professionally.

One of the ways that Minite facilitates this is by connecting companies with the best students based on data, and not “gut feeling or likeability.”

On Minite, a company looking to hire a student freelancer won’t see their photo, name, age, gender or ethnicity.

The platform is instead designed to showcase the profile of these students highlighting their skills in the form of studies, experience, and interests.

This profile is further supplemented with data including assessment scores and Chen says they even use AI to analyse behaviour, which can be a great predictor for future success.

Chen says they are able to vet the students on its platform by leveraging natural language processing (NLP) to gain invaluable insights into student profiles.

This allows Minite to provide businesses hiring on the platform with a nuanced understanding of each student’s unique qualities, which extends far beyond what businesses can learn by scanning a resume.

“This goes very deep as we also comprehensively understand their platform behaviour and therefore can provide users with a holistic view of suitability for specific roles and projects,” explains Chen.

With Vass coming on board as CTO, Chen sees an opportunity to further build on this capability.

Student-first approach

There is no denying that Minite is unique and serves a community that hasn’t been catered to directly in the past.

Chen, who is a FEM-START expert, says they are focused on serving only students because “students have got much more potential, drive and hunger to learn.”

She sees students, who are called High-Flyers on Minite, bringing fresh perspectives to organisations and often going above and beyond to deliver excellence.

“I love the unencumbered minds of students, as do the companies that work with us,” she adds.

On its website, Minite claims to have over 15,000 students registered on its platform and Chen confirms to have facilitated thousands of matches between students and companies to date.

“We offer a range of opportunities meaning it’s not only freelance jobs, but students can also come to us to find internships, full-time jobs, join company in-house days or be a part of events,” she elaborates.

At this moment, there are over a thousand companies using Minite to hire student freelancers but Chen is particularly proud of the fact that companies who hired through the platform two years ago are still hiring.

As a platform serving students across the Netherlands, Minite offers opportunities that pay €18 an hour or €120 for one-time projects.

Chen sees this as a fair rate both for students and companies and believes paying a student €5 an hour would be unfair if their added value is €35 per hour.

Slush, funding, and road ahead

Chen repeatedly says their focus is on offering quality and being very strict about that metric.

She says offering constant quality ensures a great experience for their clients and has become the singular reason for them to keep coming back to the platform.

In an era where funding has become hard to come by and investors increasingly prioritise profitability over growth, Chen says she does not believe in fast gains since they can turn into quick losses.

With €300,000 in seed funding in January 2022, she says they have been able to grow significantly and emphasises her belief in sustainable growth when asked if they will raise any additional funding.

Minite is heading to Slush this year as part of the official Dutch trade mission that aims to showcase innovative and impact-driven Dutch startups on a global platform.

Chen, who has never been to Slush, a founder-centric event, says Minite was invited by the RVO to join the trade mission and sees Slush as an opportunity to “return with lots of new connections and inspiration.”

For Chen and Minite, the future is one where the platform not only gets better but also smarter with the continued use and implementation of AI.

“We’re hyped about the wealth of opportunities that generative AI brings,” Chen says, adding, “and always find ways to incorporate that into our platform to make the user experience better, smarter, and more seamless.”

Having already started working with larger companies for a variety of opportunities, Minite aims to further connect students with opportunities such as in-house days, internships, full-time jobs, and unique events.

In the end, Chen says they will remain the geeks “who love to build stuff” that people need and are rooted in its mission to connect the best student talent with the right companies in a Gen Z fashion.

What is the future of work? This question has dominated the minds of employers, employees, HR leaders, and business leaders around the world.

Even though return to office dominates the news, the future of work is one dominated by distributed workforce and one where employers no longer need to look for the best talent in their vicinity.

With that as a precedent, Remote launched its new Global HR Platform last month, which is designed to help organisations with workers in multiple countries.

Founded by Job van der Voort and Marcelo Lebre in 2019, Remote was born out of first-hand experience with difficulty hiring remote workers. The startup offers a platform that helps companies to hire remote workers, manage payments, and compliance.

As a fast growing company, Remote has a fully distributed workforce with its employees living in more than 70 countries.

As Remote helps organisations embrace distributed workforce, its Chief People Officer Barbara Matthews is trying to scale its cultural vision to make opportunities accessible to everyone.

A small world

Matthews says technology has not only revolutionised how people work, where people work but also made work a lot more interesting thanks to automation of repetitive tasks.

“Globalisation has ensured that the world itself is small with regards to work,” she adds.

Due to globalisation, she says employers now have a desire to look beyond their own neighbourhood to find great people and build a more diverse workforce.

Remote work is not new but the whole world has woken up to the idea of remote work due to the pandemic. While we all witnessed how work changed during the pandemic, Matthews has had a front seat to the changing definition of work for over two decades.

Before joining Remote, she held various HR roles at Google for more than 12 years and built the HR function from scratch in EMEA and APAC for Stripe during her more than 7 years stint.

She emphasises that the very definition of work, which meant people worked in buildings in cities and then came home for dinner, has been antiquated.

With the modern workforce, flexibility and balance has also undergone a change with work and personal life becoming more blended and also flexible.

Remote CEO Van der Voort once said building a company is a marathon but building a smart and efficient team can be likened to running the marathon twice.

The best starting place, Matthews says, is careful planning and having a clear understanding of capabilities needed to build a smart and efficient team.

While this will vary depending on the stage a company is at, she says the impact needs to be made.

“A critical first step is to ensure everyone is aligned behind the vision or mission,” she says, adding, “and everyone has a clear understanding of the goals and where you are going as a team.”

As a HR leader, she argues strongly in favour of leading with clarity and context, making sure the goals, vision, and mission are clearly understood and the team is aligned and committed to it.

She also says companies need to understand the competencies needed for the team and the skills gap to leverage that information to recruit and onboard team members.

“It is also important to build a culture of feedback and growth so that performance goals are set and people are always aware of how they are trending performance wise,” she says.

However it doesn’t just stop at people but as a leader she sees it a core responsibility of managers to enable others to grow through real time feedback and coaching, career conversations, development and growth.

Remote-first approach

Matthews says both employers and employees have seen the benefits of remote work and many of those benefits have been hard to let go of.

While remote work has become a norm now, not many organisations believed in the idea before the pandemic.

She says a lack of awareness that distributed teams can be productive and happy without seeing each other in person is the reason why many organisations didn’t adopt remote work before the pandemic.

“Now that we have seen that happen it is hard to go back,” she adds.

Remote work and big organisations seem to be a paradox where the companies after promising remote or hybrid work are now beginning to bring people back to office.

“Companies who are bringing people back to the office full time may not realise that it could be short-sighted,” Matthews says about the decision.

She further says that this could lead to hidden costs, particularly when it comes to the pool of talent they can access.

“Remote workers consistently demonstrate more loyalty, motivation, and engagement,” Matthews says, adding that businesses offering remote work experience reduced churn.

Speaking to Matthews is nothing short of reading multiple Wikipedia pages on work, evolution of work, and future of work.

She says companies with a remote-first strategy are showing strong growth and are attracting talents more easily than traditional businesses.

“If you want to succeed in business these days and the coming years, remote-first is the way to go,” she adds.

Distributed workforce

In the remote-first world, the company named after it wants to play a key role by providing a solution to the challenge of talent being everywhere but opportunity not.

“Remote’s mission is to create opportunity everywhere, empowering employers to find and hire the best talent wherever they may be, and enabling individuals to build financial and personal freedom,” she says.

With a distributed workforce, employers around the world can also bridge the talent gap since there is more talent in the rest of the world than in a company’s own vicinity.

Since employers are now being judged on work life balance, flexibility, and the overall quality of life, having a distributed workforce will see more candidates accept their job offer.

Matthews says, “Distributed workforces are rapidly becoming a key part of how businesses differentiate themselves in a turbulent jobs market.”

With its new Global HR Platform, Matthews explains that they are offering a single platform to hire, manage, and pay a global workforce from a simple yet compliant platform.

With this foundational tool, employers will be able to do everything from tracking time and attendance to running payroll, offering benefits, paying bonuses, paying contractors, among other functions.

The real benefit of the platform is that it allows employers to do all those activities while being fully compliant, fast, and easy to use for teams across any country.

AI for productivity boost

Remote has been a remote-first organisation since its inception and as CPO, Matthews says they are iterative with their culture as a startup.

This means that everyone across the company is always looking for opportunities to get better at how they practise remote work.

She says, “One recent change has been experimenting with AI tools to help us retrieve information about local regulations in different countries.”

As a remote team, she says there is a lot of documentation and it can get hard to find them quickly and they are now using AI to quickly respond to their customers.

She says AI is providing a productivity boost in a competitive market by automating repetitive tasks and reducing manual labour.

The time freed from doing repetitive tasks, she says, is being spent on tasks that require more communication or creative skills.

“We’re also seeing incredible advances in medicine, science, creative fields, and much more,” she elaborates.

As a HR leader, she says AI will become integral to most, if not all roles in future, and thus sees learning more about it a must for everyone.

Even as AI advances, she says distributed teams will become a differentiator over time for successful companies.

Matthews is certain of distributed workforce being a talent magnet that is able to “take advantage of the productivity, agility, and diversity benefits of working globally.”

Berlin-based Empion, a provider of HR management software solutions, announced on Wednesday, October 25,, that it has raised €6M in a seed round of funding led by Cavalry Ventures with participation from existing investors Redstone VC and VR Ventures.

The announcement comes a year after raising €2.4M in a pre-seed financing round from Redstone VC, Basinghall Partners and well-known angels from the HR tech industry. 

Empion: Transforming recruitment through AI

Founded by Dr. Annika von Mutius and Dr. Larissa Leitner in 2021, Empion is an automated headhunting solution for professionals that uses AI technology and cultural matching to match talent and companies based on skills and cultural fit. 

The AI-based robo advisor quantifies relevant parameters to match talent with suitable companies. 

According to the company, it leads to a higher success rate and loyalty of employees to the company. The application process is accelerated and time is saved.

Currently, the company works with various clients, including Personio, Volksbanken or Mazars.

The Investor

Based out of Berlin, Cavalry Ventures is a European early-stage venture capital fund focusing on pre-seed and seed stages with €260+M in assets under management. 

In addition to the expertise of the partners, the portfolio companies gain access to a cross-sector, global and exclusive network of more than 200 angel investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, business experts, and many more. 

They provide advisory and operational support in areas such as strategy, organisational development, product development, sales, international expansion, recruiting and marketing.

The portfolio comprises over 50 companies such as Forto, McMakler, REKKI, BRYTER, and PlanRadar.