Red River Insights - HR Tech top 10
Where did the 'Human' in HR go?
Red River Insights - March 2025
Dear Friends,
We’ve all been at some point candidate, recruiter or manager. Recruitment processes haven’t changed much over the years and the early attempts of using AI to filter CV turned out to be a disaster.
But it looks like generative AI has now changed the rules of the game. At Red River West, we actually had to rethink completely our recruitment process for our tech team to account for extensive use of co-pilot. Even what’s meant to be the most human aspect of business is transformed by technology.
Because yes, tech is now everywhere in HR. Automation, generative AI, predictive insights, and new work models are fundamentally reshaping the way we attract, engage, and manage talent. We're seeing algorithms responsible for hiring, training, and performance reviews; platforms tailoring roles to individual aspirations; and interfaces streamlining the employee journey from onboarding to offboarding.
The numbers are staggering: employers in the US alone invest annually over $5 trillion on payroll, benefits, training and other employee programs, and 74% of companies globally plan to increase their HR tech budgets in the coming years.
At Red River West, we’ve been closely tracking this transformation through our proprietary data platform, RAMP. This month, we’re excited to share our Top 10 most promising HRTech Startups.
From AI-powered recruiting and skills-based workforce intelligence to integrated HR platforms, personalized engagement tools, and culture tech, we’ll break down the five key trends shaping the future of work - and spotlight the startups turning those trends into reality.
RAMP's HRTech AI top10
We hope this sparks interesting conversations. If you have any comments or would like to suggest a startup that should be included, feel free to reach out to us. Abel, Chloé, Joseph and Olivier will be delighted to discuss these trends and rankings.
(Ranking established on 16/03/2025)
*Companies having raised >100m are excluded from this ranking
Here are the key trends defining this transformative landscape:
1. AI-driven recruitment and talent matching
AI is fundamentally transforming how organizations attract, evaluate, and engage with talent. But this shift hasn’t come without bumps. Early attempts at AI-assisted recruitment - like Amazon’s infamous hiring algorithm that downgraded CVs from women - revealed how quickly bias can be encoded and amplified by machines. These failures served as a wake-up call: AI is only as fair as the data and design behind it.
So what’s changed since then? Today’s leading HRTech solutions are far more transparent, auditable, and designed with fairness in mind. New models are trained on more representative datasets, continuously monitored for bias, and often augmented with human-in-the-loop systems to avoid fully automated decision-making. After all, it’s still human resources we’re talking about. Until when?
Several startups are leading this transformation such as Viterbit building a multi-channel AI-powered recruitment platform that not only sources talent but also automates candidate validation and qualification, helping companies hire more efficiently across digital profiles. Instaffo leverages AI and big data to match candidates and companies in a reverse recruiting model, aligning not just skills but also professional goals and values. This human-centric matching improves employer-employee compatibility and reduces turnover. HiPeople focuses on enriching the evaluation phase by enabling companies to collect deep candidate insights at scale. Its platform supports assessments and tests, reference and background checks, as well as analytics on candidate experience and quality of hire. This empowers recruiters and hiring managers to make more data-driven and equitable hiring decisions.
2. Skills-based workforce models
Very tied with the previous trend, this trend is about organizations shifting from degree-based hiring to skills-first strategies - a shift accelerated by digital transformation, the rise of non-linear career paths, and talent shortages in key domains. Rather than focusing on degrees or job history, this approach maps what employees can do and matches them to roles, projects, or learning opportunities accordingly. It opens doors to self-taught talent, career changers, and individuals from non-traditional or underrepresented backgrounds - helping companies build more diverse, equitable, and high-performing teams. It’s not just fairer, it’s also smarter. Organizations that map skills across their workforce can better match employees to internal opportunities, fill roles faster, and future-proof their teams in a fast-moving environment.
AI-powered platforms are now capable of building dynamic, real-time maps of workforce capabilities, identifying individual and organizational skill gaps, and recommending targeted upskilling or redeployment strategies. This enables companies to unlock internal mobility, reduce turnover, and remain agile in rapidly changing environments.
TechWolf plays a critical role here, offering a talent intelligence engine that monitors employees’ skills based on their digital footprint and existing HR data -giving companies a precise and evolving view of internal capabilities. Cosmico similarly supports skills-based work by acting as a curated marketplace where companies can connect with freelance digital talent (designers, developers, marketers) for transformation projects, ensuring perfect alignment between task needs and skills.
3. Personalized employee engagement
As expectations around the employee experience evolve, personalization is becoming a core strategy to improve motivation, satisfaction, and retention. Companies are adopting AI and data-driven tools to customize every touchpoint of the employee journey - from onboarding and task management to feedback and career development.
This trend reflects a move away from one-size-fits-all HR policies, toward a more human-centric model that respects individual preferences, working styles, and ambitions. Personalized engagement also strengthens the emotional bond between employer and employee, which is key in a hybrid or remote-first world.
Sona is a strong example of this trend. Originally built for frontline and operational workforces, its platform offers live schedules, Open Shifts (which allow employees to pick up additional hours), and direct messaging - giving workers more autonomy and visibility over their work while fostering stronger communication with employers.
4. Integrated HR ecosystems
With the growing complexity of people operations, organizations are moving away from disconnected point solutions toward unified, all-in-one HR platforms. These systems bring together payroll, employee records, performance tracking, recruitment, and even offboarding into a single source of truth - streamlining operations, improving compliance, and delivering better data insights.
Unlike legacy players - which, while powerful, can feel rigid, expensive, and over-engineered for smaller or fast-growing teams - new-generation platforms prioritize usability, speed of implementation, and flexibility. They’re built with the end-user in mind and often offer modular, API-friendly systems that can scale with the organization. This simplification is especially valuable for SMBs or fast-growing companies that need to scale HR processes without growing headcount proportionally. It also facilitates data-driven decision-making and ensures consistency in employee experience.
Hailey HR is a key player in this space, providing a comprehensive, user-friendly platform that spans the entire employee lifecycle - from hiring to exit. With built-in automation and analytics features, it empowers HR teams to act strategically rather than administratively. Jet HR also contributes by targeting one of the most pain-prone functions - payroll - with a modern platform that removes bureaucracy and inefficiencies from compensation management. Sloneek complements the trend with a lightweight but robust HRIS (Human Resource Information System) focused on both employees and external collaborators, ideal for companies with hybrid or freelance -heavy teams.
5. Workforce well-being
Beyond efficiency and compliance, companies are increasingly recognizing that employee well-being is a core pillar of organizational success. This includes physical, mental, and emotional health, as well as belonging and connection - particularly important in hybrid or distributed teams.
HRTech solutions in this space are evolving beyond wellness stipends or surveys to offer structured initiatives that build culture, prevent burnout, and strengthen interpersonal bonds. Corporate offsites and retreats are becoming strategic tools for alignment, creativity, and engagement.
Naboo fits into this space by offering an all-in-one platform to plan and instantly book offsites - including venues, catering, transportation, and activities. It addresses the rising demand for intentional, high-impact team experiences that go beyond Zoom drinks to foster cohesion and shared purpose.
More on RAMP's scoring method
The ranking of these startups is based on the estimated momentum of the company but the algorithm does not assess the quality or reliability of the products/solutions developed by these companies!
Find out about the algorithm behind this ranking and the way scores are calculated here: Cheat sheet on RAMP
In case you missed them, our latest top 10s are here:
- February 25: Open Source AI
- January 25: Agentic AI
- December 24: France
- November 24: E-Commerce
- October 24: Global Defence
- September 24: Supply chain
- July 24: Travel Tech
- June 24: Developper tools
All the previous Top 10 are here.
RRW news
We are excited to announce that Bettina Denis has joined the Red River West team as our Chief Financial and Sustainable Officer, based in Paris. She brings over fifteen years of experience in finance, having worked as a director in Deloitte’s Transaction Services department and as CFO of a late-stage fund. In her previous role, she also defined and implemented the ESG and sustainable investment strategy, adding a strong sustainability focus to her financial expertise.
We also welcomed Tristan Bellanger as an Investment Analyst. Tristan brings experience as a private banking intern at ODDO BHF, a privately held Franco-German-Swiss bank, where he focused on non-listed assets. He also gained experience in the Web3 sector, serving as the CEO's right-hand in a startup and as an analyst in an incubator. He recently graduated from EDHEC Business School, specializing in AI and data analytics.
✈️🇺🇸 Meeting in the US?
The whole team will gather in Los Angeles next week for our yearly offsite and will spend some time in the US so feel free to reach out if you want to catch up:
Portfolio news
Resilience is expanding its impact in mental health with the launch of Edra, a remote monitoring solution dedicated to patients with depression and bipolar disorder. Building on its expertise in oncology and IBD, Resilience is leading a multi-center randomized controlled clinical study to validate the solution’s clinical, organizational, and budgetary impact. In parallel, the company announced a strategic partnership with Clariane, a major European player in mental health care, to promote more personalized patient care. (More here)
Jiko introduced JikoNet, a new real-time settlement network designed for high-volume transactions while minimizing liquidity and counterparty risks. By leveraging Jiko’s de-levered deposit model, JikoNet ensures that every dollar remains continuously invested in U.S. Treasury bills, providing unmatched security and efficiency in financial transfers. (More here)
2 of our founders nominated in EU-Startups’ Top 100: Europe’s Most Influential Women in Startups & VC! Congrats to Ada Health’s co-founder & CMO, Claire Novorol and Hélène Huby, The Exploration Company’s co-founder and CEO. (More here)
The Exploration Company CEO Hélène Huby participated remotely in a Q&A session with the French Parliament, discussing the future of human space transportation and TEC’s development of spacecraft for servicing space stations in low Earth orbit and lunar missions. The session included insights from top European space leaders, including CNES and ESA executives. (More here)
Brut continues to solidify its dominance in digital media, surpassing 10 million subscribers on its TikTok account (@brutofficiel). This milestone confirms its position as the leading news media outlet on the platform in France, reinforcing its influence in the next-gen news ecosystem. (More here)
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