TechWolf raises $42.75M for AI-driven talent management solutions

TechWolf, a Belgian AI company has closed a $42.75 million Series B funding round to build the AI Infrastructure layer for employee skills. 

The company was founded in 2018 by Andreas De Neve, Jeroen van Hautte, and Mikaël Wornoo, who met while they were computer science engineering students at Ghent University and Cambridge University. 

TechWolf is building the AI infrastructure layer for skills, creating foundational data assets and frameworks that enable a skills-first approach to talent management. Its technology infers employee skills from digital interactions by leveraging advanced AI language models, thus eliminating the need for manual skills assessments. 

TechWolf's task-optimised AI models outperform leading benchmarks at a fraction of the runtime cost. Over the past five years, the company has published seven peer-reviewed articles and has 15 language models in production.

Felix Capital led the round, which included participation from 20VC, Acadian Ventures, Fortino Capital Partners, Notion Capital, SemperVirens, SAP, ServiceNow Ventures, Workday Ventures, and notable AI leaders from Deepmind and Meta. 

According to Julien Codorniou, Partner at Felix Capital, who will be joining the board:

"At Felix Capital, we have devoted significant resources to exploring the impact of AI on HR, influenced by the steady innovation from European AI startups. 

We have been particularly impressed by TechWolf's capability to transform its clients into fully-fledged 'skills-based organisations'.

This transformation promotes flexibility, fuels innovation, and boosts employee engagement, ultimately optimising talent utilisation and fostering continuous learning."

"We are thrilled to lead this funding round alongside a remarkable group of partners, aiming to accelerate TechWolf's expansion, especially in the U.S. and enterprise sector," said Andreas De Neve, co-founder and CEO of TechWolf. 

TechWolf's investors have committed three per cent of all shares to the TechWolf Foundation, a non-profit/charitable foundation committed to causes adjacent to TechWolf's mission and story like: 

(i) funding underrepresented founders, 
(ii) promoting women in STEM and 
(iii) wolf rescue programs and sanctuaries. 

In addition to the new funding, Diane Gherson, former IBM Chief HR Officer and current board member of Kraft Heinz, will join TechWolf's Board of Directors as an independent director, bringing a wealth of HR expertise to the company. 

The company will use the new funds to expand its presence in the US and invest further in AI development. It plans to open its first US office in New York City in September 2024. 

With more than 50 per cent of its pipeline already in the US, TechWolf has recently signed prominent clients such as United Airlines, MetLife, IQVIA, Synopsys, and Workday. 

Lead image: TechWolf. Image: Stijn Vanderdeelen.