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Storied Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is backing a fledgling U.K. startup that\u2019s setting out to \u201credefine\u201d how AI is used to match companies with talent.<\/p>\n
Dex<\/a>, as the startup is called, targets candidates and companies with various AI-powered recruitment smarts, including matchmaking and coaching, with a view toward improving retention in the long run. <\/p>\n Dex is the handiwork of CTO Harry Uglow<\/a> and CEO Paddy Lambros<\/a> (pictured above), who recently left their positions as software engineer and head of talent, respectively, at European VC firm Atomico. While they say that Dex has already lured some two dozen U.K. tech firms on board (\u201cincluding two high-profile U.K. unicorns\u201d), the platform is remaining in closed beta for now as they fine-tune things ahead of a broader launch later this year.<\/p>\n Ahead of that, the London-based startup on Tuesday announced it has raised $3.1 million in a pre-seed round of funding led by a16z\u2019s Speedrun fund<\/a> and Concept Ventures, with participation from a slew of angels from across the tech and VC landscape, including: Meta board member Charlie Songhurst; Deliveroo COO Eric French; Incident.io CEO Stephen Whitworth; Notion Capital partner Kamil Mieczakowski; and ex-Atomico partner Bryce Keane.<\/p>\n With AI becoming increasingly intertwined<\/a> in the recruitment realm, Dex is entering a busy space \u2014 this includes fledgling startups<\/a>, well-funded unicorns<\/a>, and new AI smarts baked directly into LinkedIn<\/a>. However, Dex sees a gap for an all-encompassing platform that\u2019s laser-focused on really<\/em> getting to know candidates.<\/p>\n In the first instance, Dex \u2014 which the company pitches as an \u201cAI voice talent agent\u201d \u2014 converses with candidates via a call to garner an understanding of their experience, skills, ambitions, and more. Subsequently, Dex can help them plan their next career move; present them with relevant opportunities; prepare them for interviews; and even negotiate offers they may receive.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that Dex will work both for passive candidates \u2014 i.e. those not actively searching for a new job \u2014 and those very much on the hunt. For instance, once Dex has built a profile of the candidate, it can keep tabs on open positions advertised on the web \u2014 perhaps very specific kinds of roles at very specific companies \u2014 and serve alerts when such opportunities crop up.<\/p>\n For those actively seeking new work, Dex can go the full nine yards, from search through to application. <\/p>\n \u201cDex talks through what you want \u2014 your preferences and needs \u2014 and asks questions to deeply understand your experience and skills,\u201d Lambros explained to TechCrunch. \u201cUsing this data, Dex then maps the entire market to find the most appropriate opportunities and surfaces them to you. If you want to proceed, Dex handles the application \u2014 no more CV, no more cover letter \u2014 and when there is a match, introduces you to the hiring manager.\u201d<\/p>\n So for candidates, Dex is less marketplace or job board, and more an AI agent that does all the mundane stuff for them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe candidates don\u2019t want to trawl through hundreds of generic job advertisements, so Dex does the searching for you, saving you hours of scrolling, researching, and then admin applying,\u201d Lambros said.<\/p>\n After all this, Dex can coach candidates for their interview and even provide market data on things like average compensation for such roles. <\/p>\n Lambros said that in addition to leaning on \u201clarge public data sets and thousands of interviews and call transcripts,\u201d Dex spoke to more than 50 of the U.K.\u2019s \u201cmost experienced recruitment leaders\u201d to learn about their recruitment methodology, and what they look for in their ideal candidates. And all this data, ultimately, went into Dex. <\/p>\n Under the hood, Dex is built on multiple LLM providers, including OpenAI, Google (Gemini), and Meta (Llama), switching based on whatever improvements are introduced with each respective model.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re constantly evaluating and changing providers to ensure that we are able to benefit from the latest advancements,\u201d Uglow said.<\/p>\n On the company side, meanwhile, Dex converses with recruitment teams to establish their preferences for their ideal candidate. <\/p>\n \u201cDex speaks with hiring managers and candidates to deeply understand what a great fit looks like,\u201d Uglow said. \u201cThe culture, behaviors, wants, needs, and ambitions of individuals and companies. This is then combined with a wide range of publicly available data, powering our recommendation systems to curate personalized matches.\u201d<\/p>\n With $3.1 million in the bank, the company is now ramping up its hiring across engineering and marketing, with a view toward launching publicly starting in the U.K., before looking to international markets.<\/p>\n \u201cHiring isn\u2019t about filling seats \u2014 it\u2019s about creating lasting partnerships that benefit employees and companies,\u201d Lambros said. \u201cWith this funding, we\u2019ll help companies retain top talent and empower employees to find work they love.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nHire ground<\/h2>\n