UNLEASH is proud to reveal the finalists for the prestigious UNLEASH Startup Award 2024 that will competing to take home the grand prize.

The best and the brightest HR startups have been competing behind the scenes – and today we are excited to announce our five finalists for this year’s competition.

These five innovative startups will compete on-site on Day One (8 May at 1:35pm on the Stage 2) at UNLEASH America 2024 in front of our panel of expert judges.

The winner will join an exclusive club of prestigious UNLEASH Startup alumni like Peakon (now part of Workday), Oneteam, Talent Alpha, Clustree, TandemHR and CandidateID.

The Finalists:

CHEZUBA

Chezuba is a leading technology solution for companies seeking to enhance their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

Its platform is available in 133 languages, and with a network of 2 million-plus non–profits spanning over 100 countries, Chezuba connects employees with meaningful and relevant volunteering and giving opportunities globally.

With thousands of volunteering opportunities to choose from in team-based, skill-based and gamified formats, the range and diversity of options employees have is unprecedented.

As an AI-powered software, Chezuba analyzes individual employee’s preferences and interests and maps personalized volunteering and giving opportunities to them.

Chezuba is venture-backed, accelerated with 500 startups and listed as Forbes 30 under 30. Spread across 3 continents, Chezuba’s diverse team is on a mission to make workplaces engaging and impactful.

JUICEBOX

Juicebox is the company behind PeopleGPT, an AI-powered people search engine.

PeopleGPT searches through 30+ data sources using large language models — allowing for unprecedented search, analysis, and outreach powered by AI.

The platform mirrors the workflow of a recruiter: finding candidates, generating insights, assessing top profiles, and crafting personalized outreach sequences.

Through each step, PeopleGPT acts as a human-in-the-loop AI system. The AI recommends a course of action, but allows for full customization from the recruiter using it.

Since launching 10 months ago, the platform has grown to over 500 customers, ranging from Fortune 500 talent teams to executive recruiting agencies.

WELLIBA

Welliba combines AI-powered measurement technologies and behavioral science to generate maximum sustainable performance and experience for individuals, teams, and organizations through instantly available personalized actionable insights and learning to enable higher performance and reduce people-related risk.

It combines AI and behavioral science to interpret and analyze various types of data, including direct data gathered from surveys and questionnaires, and indirect data gathered from various relevant internal and external data sources.

The all-in-one platform equips organizations to address diverse people challenges including Employee Engagement and Listening, Human Capital Benchmarking, Employee Experience, Manager Effectiveness, Learning and Development, Onboarding Support, and Employee Communications.

TAIWA

TAIWA envisions a world where individuals are not just prepared but empowered to collaboratively address the critical challenges of our era.

Its mission is to revolutionize the landscape of professional and personal development through our AI-powered coaching platform.

By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, it offers 24/7, evidence-based, precision coaching that is tailored to the unique fabric of each organization we partner with.

The platform is designed to integrate seamlessly with each company’s distinct policies, processes, values, and culture, ensuring that the AI-coaching experience is as customized and effective as possible.

TAIWA’s adaptive approach ensures that every individual receives personalized AI-coaching that resonates with them, fostering growth and transformation at every level of the organization.

Informed with over 18 years of coaching experience and a track record of serving more than 1,000 clients globally, TAIWA’s proprietary coaching methods are not just innovative—they are proven.

MANIFEST

Manifest’s mission is to maximize retirement outcomes for millions of people by powering the infrastructure that drives accessibility, modernizing the retirement industry by putting participants first.

Every job change can put employee nest eggs at risk as the workforce is trending towards mobility. And for many employees, saving for retirement can be a financial stressor.

Manifest is an add-on to any defined contribution plan. Its product helps employees maximize their retirement outcomes by making consolidation a breeze.

Many employee benefit ecosystems include financial literacy but lack the products to drive action. Manifest drives consolidation now, and the impact compounds over time.

Growing average account balances gives our clients negotiating power to lower their overall 401(k) plan fees by 20%.

The UNLEASH Startup Competition winner will be decided on Wednesday 8th May at UNLEASH America in Las Vegas.

The Moderator:

Moderator: Rebecca Carr, Interim CEO & Chief Product Officer, SmartRecruiters

With over 15 years of experience in the recruiting and HR technology space, including as the SVP Growth for SmartRecruiters, Rebecca recently rejoined SmartRecruiters from Checkr, where she was the General Manager for Checkr Pay, Checkr’s earned wage access product.

Alongside this experience, she has led global product teams at Jobvite, Branchout, and Playdom (acquired by Disney in 2010).

Her deep understanding of the customer problem space, bringing innovative products to customers, expanding product portfolios, and deepening customer relationships gives her a unique perspective on this role and space.

The Judges:

Benjamin Visser, Founder & CEO, allygatr

Benjamin Visser has been shaping the future of work for more than 20 years.

He is founder and CEO of allygatr, which has invested in 24 digital startups (more to come). allygatr creates remarkable value for startups, investors, experts, and companies by building a pioneering hrtech ecosystem.

Kathi Enderes, SVP Research, The Josh Bersin Company

Senior Vice President and Global Industry Analyst at The Josh Bersin Company, Kathi supports clients and the market with evidence-based insights on all areas of HR, Learning, Talent, and HR Technology.

Kathi has more than 20 years global experience from management consulting with IBM, PwC, and EY, and as a talent leader at McKesson and Kaiser Permanente. Most recently, Kathi led talent and workforce research at Deloitte. She is a frequent keynote speaker, author, and thought leader.

Chris Hoyt, President & Co-Owner, CareerXroads

A 25+ year veteran of recruiting and HR, Chris Hoyt is a sought-after speaker with presentations including North American conferences such as SHRM, and LinkedIn, a as well as iRecruit, Australasian Talent Conference, UNLEASH, and more around the world.

His expertise and experience within the recruiting industry and his passion for building strong communities go hand-in-hand with the work he performs as the president of CareerXroads.

James Holzer, Managing Partner, Drake Star

Jim has over twenty-five years of experience completing M&A and financing transactions for leading software and technology-enabled services companies.

Since joining Drake Star in 2012, he has been active in advising clients on M&A and growth equity transactions involving strategic buyers and financial investors.

In addition to helping companies plan for and complete successful transactions, Jim frequently publishes market reports and participates in podcasts relating to trends in HRtech.

Sadie Bell, VP People Systems and Automation, HPE

Sadie is the Vice President of Innovation and Deployment of People Systems and Automation at Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) where she is responsible to deliver exceptional people experiences through our people systems, as well as enable intuitive digital services through process improvement, robotics and document automation.

Prior to joining HPE, she worked for Dow Inc for several years serving in Senior Leadership roles across HR, Digital Manufacturing, and Information Systems. Sadie also worked with The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company in Business Intelligence and Analytics and as a programmer for CSC.

Mike Bollinger, VP of Strategic Initiatives, Cornerstone OnDemand

Mike Bollinger is an accomplished executive with 20 years of industry experience. He has deep technology and HCM domain skills including strategic workforce planning, communications, change management, team building, business case development and leadership.

Mike has in-depth knowledge and experience in effective planning, budgeting, and management as well as a comprehensive mastery of HCM technologies.

In his current role as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with Cornerstone, he is responsible for internal research as well as strategy development around outcome-based goals.

The Grand Prize:

Entering the UNLEASH Startup Award offers the best and brightest of the HR tech landscape unrivalled access to the top HR analysts, thought leaders and investors. Past judges include Josh Bersin, Katarina Berg, Mike Ettling and Sarah White.

But the lucky winner will scoop a $50,000 sponsorship package for a future UNLEASH event – but please note, this figure does not include the price of the stand build and design.

The best of luck to all the finalists and we look forward to seeing you at UNLEASH America, 7-9 May in Las Vegas.

Want more information?

For more tips and insights, join the UNLEASH Startup community here.

And for more information on our Startup packages, which provide marketing opportunities to showcase your achievements, please contact:

Kennedy Cook, Startup & Investor Program Lead – at Kennedy@unleash.ai

Aniko Illes, Startup Ecosystem Sales Lead – at Aniko@unleash.ai or on 00 36 20 255 87 41.