Layoffs continue to impact the technology sector, yet the demand for skilled tech talent is rising within organizations. As a result, there's an increasing emphasis on effective management of internal talent.
TechWolf, a startup based in Ghent, Belgium, is innovatively tackling this challenge. The company has developed an AI engine that analyzes data from internal workflows to gain insights about employees. This information enables managers and internal recruiters to more accurately assess skills and interests, connect employees with diverse projects, and enhance training opportunities.
The company is gaining traction with its technology, attracting an impressive clientele that includes GSK, HSBC, and Booking.com. Recently, TechWolf secured nearly $43 million in funding to accelerate its growth. This Series B round is led by London-based Felix Capital, with SAP, ServiceNow, and Workday co-investing for the first time. Other investors include Acadian Ventures, Fortino Capital Partners, Notion Capital, SemperVirens, and 20VC, along with notable AI leaders from DeepMind and Meta. Consequently, TechWolf's valuation has reached approximately $150 million.
CEO Andreas De Neve, who co-founded TechWolf alongside Jeroen Van Hautte and Mikaël Wornoo, initiated the company in 2018 while they were still computer science students at the University of Ghent and Cambridge University. Their initial goal was to create an HR platform, designing their own language model similar to ChatGPT, aimed at sourcing external talent.
However, De Neve admits, “It failed.” They realized that the recruitment process they were addressing was not fundamentally broken; employers didn’t require AI to differentiate between good and bad applicants.
The founders soon discovered a different problem that their target customers needed resolving. De Neve recalled, “They asked, ‘Could we utilize this AI model on our 40,000 employees instead of just applicants?’” This pivotal discussion with HR leaders guided them to focus on identifying employees’ skills, which was a significant need.
The question, “What is it you actually do?” often reflects a prevailing issue in corporate environments, exacerbated in larger organizations. “Even with 100,000 competent employees generating vast amounts of data, companies know very little about their capabilities,” De Neve explained. “Our mission became clarifying this landscape.”
AI is perfectly positioned to solve this problem. “We’ve developed language models that integrate with tools employees use daily: project management software, documentation systems for developers, and research repositories. This allows us to infer the skills possessed by these workers, utilizing the digital traces they leave behind,” he added.
TechWolf aligns with several significant industry trends worth noting:
The Innovator’s Dilemma: The renowned book describes how even successful large companies can falter against more nimble startups. Viewing this from an alternate perspective, an organization’s core asset for agility is its people. The ability to assemble teams around various projects can determine success, and companies are willing to invest in technology that facilitates this.
LLM vs. MLM vs. SLM: Large language models have generated significant attention recently. These models underpin popular generative AI applications like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. However, there’s a growing interest in “smaller” language models designed for specific applications, as they are often simpler to develop and operate, and less likely to produce hallucinations. TechWolf is not alone in this endeavor; startups like Poolside are also focusing on niche applications.
Focus is Key: When I inquired whether TechWolf planned to branch into areas such as enterprise search or business intelligence, given its robust data capabilities, De Neve’s response was definitive: “While we excel in data processing, we are laser-focused on solving the skills problem, as there is already overwhelming demand in our current market.”
In a landscape teeming with AI noise, TechWolf’s focus stands out, which likely contributes to investor interest in the company. Julien Codorniou from Felix believes that TechWolf can outperform larger competitors in adjacent markets. “Excelling in one area can be tremendously advantageous,” he remarked. “They strive to be the Switzerland of HR departments, not another Workday or ServiceNow.”
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