Berlin, Germany – Emerge Tech, one of the most innovative HRTech startups in Berlin has successfully raised a funding from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the Heimatboost-Übermorgen investment community.
The proceeds will help them to further develop and roll out their disruptive AI-led platform helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create a strong employer brand.
Established in 2024 by a group of seasoned HR and technology veterans, including Daniel Braun, former CEO of WorkGenius, Wolf Reiner Kriegler, and founder of the German Employer Branding Academy and Thomas Holl, who co-founded Babbel, Emerge Tech’s mission is to democratize talent acquisition.
Their solution leverages proprietary AI agents to automate and simplify the complex and expensive process of employer branding that has traditionally only been available to large companies with significant resources.
Its key AI-based agents — Creative Carla and Channel Charly — will collaborate to first develop inspiring company identities and messages, and then disseminate them across appropriate channels with-a-plan, based on data-human insights.
It even stands to bring corporate-led employer branding to the SME market affordably and scalably.
Early indications from corporates using Emerge Tech’s platform have been strong and the company claims that it has been able to deliver a 40% increase in successful candidate-organisation fit, a 87% decrease in employer branding costs compared to traditional agencies and a 54% decrease in cost of daily effort in hiring activities.
“The labor shortage means that savvy employers are leveraging Emerge’s AI agents to discover how small teams can win talent in revolutionary ways and redefine HR as a function.”
“Employer branding is a method that has until now generally been reserved for big brands, said Wolf Reiner Kriegler, CPO. But talent does not pick based on budget; authenticity does. That’s where our AI lands exactly.”
Together with the continued development and use of “Creative Carla” and “Channel Charly,” Emerge Tech will concentrate on improving user dynamism and breadth over the balance of 2025, to build a strong and scalable AI agent model.
The company is also gearing up for a seed round in late 2025 that will enable international expansion and the building out of a broader suite of AI agents that will span the complete employee lifecycle, from onboarding to performance management.
Christian Arndt, Managing Director at HTGF, shared his thoughts on Emerge Tech in the release: “The well-coordinated and complementary founding team of Emerge impressed us straight away. For small businesses in particular, at which the lines between personal and professional responsibilities tend to blur, modern HR needs to be so much more than just a “department of one.”
Their combination of HR savviness and tech expertise is exactly what’s needed to support the ongoing digital transformation efforts of medium-sized businesses. We are thrilled to partner with Emerge to build on this in our investment.”
Emerge Tech’s new AI-enabled model to democratise employer branding is set to redefine how SMEs hire and retain talent in an increasingly cut-throat market environment.
