Here comes the update for M&A activity in August 2026. AI continues to drive speed of change in the market - both in the relevance and valuations of transactions, but also in the speed of organic portfolio extension. Staying close to customers and their demands they are ready to pay for - especially in uncertain economic environments - remains as important as always. August also saw some consolidation in various market segments in Europe again. My recent visit to Zukunft Pers

The number of funding rounds announced in August 2026 was extremely low likely due to summer break and also with the continued challenge for companies founded several years back to raise follow-on rounds in times where scaling in the market has become even more challenging. However, September will continue to show more activity again as it already started with another $150M round from HiBob and I am aware of several other interesting rounds to be announced this month as well

The number of funding rounds announced in July 2026 dropped a bit compared to June and are headlined by Skello's €200M growth funding (minority shareholder) by Bridgepoint. Beyond that mega-round, VC and angel rounds announced were focused on earlier stages with focus on France and Italy. The pattern holds: frontline workforce scheduling, AI-driven skills & recruiting intelligence, and care-economy platforms all attracting capital, with AI now the default rather than the exce

June fundings picked up noticeably compared to May again, headlined by Factorial's $150M Series D. Beyond that mega-round, VCs stayed active across European HRTech and WorkTech - this time with Spain and France leading the way alongside the usual UK activity. The familiar patterns held: AI-first companies reshaping talent acquisition, payroll, learning and AI adoption itself. Several rounds again centred on the operational and frontline workforce, and a growing number are bui

Again, April saw some interesting growth investments from VCs into European HRTech and WorkTech startups and scaleups. With a still challenging market environment as all, clients, investors and vendors, are still trying to find the exact sweet-spots of opportunities coming about with the rise of AI, we still see similar patterns in continued funding. Workforce management saw several larger funding rounds following the hypothesis of vertical solutions in underdigitized frontli

Whilst 2026 with a limited number of fundings announcements, February was much more busy with several companies communicating their funding rounds often still closed before Christmas / end of year. Similar to the last months of 2025, investments are again primarily in the frontline payroll, benefits, learning and talent acquisition space. Here are the details: ⬇𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 💵 Naboo (FR) raised a $70M Series-B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with pa

The last month of 2025 contained a few larger European HR Tech fundings for new start-ups or uprising scale-ups. Again different areas of employee benefits plays as well as several recruiting and learning focus investments characterize the fundings in the European and also in the US market. US has seen less super large rounds at the end of the year - whilst there is still a chance that some closing from end of December will be communicated in early 2026. Here are the deta

I n October, HR Tech fundings for new start-ups or uprising scale-ups in Europe were not as notable in size compared to some previous months, while US showed some additional very significant rounds. The stream for additional fundings for AI-based talent acquisition, learning and benefits startups continues, thus investments again underlining that AI is driving innovation across HRTech disciplines. Here are the details: ⬇𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 💵 Jack & Jill (UK) raised

On Tuesday next week, I will be at the Copetri event near Frankfurt to discuss "Recruiting (Technology) Innovations" in a panel...

For my first business trip in my new role as WorkTech/ HRTech advisor I travelled to Amsterdam 🇳🇱 today. The trip alone showed me why...