HR tech specialist raises £1.2m funding to ‘give every employee an AI assistant’

Harriet, the first full-stack AI solution designed to get companies’ internal data ready for the “AI revolution” has raised a £1.2m pre-seed round led by Concept Ventures and joined by Frontline Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, and Notion Capital.

Poor data management is said to be a “major blocker” to the adoption of AI tools, particularly those designed to drive efficiencies for companies and their staff. Harriet is the first HR-focused AI solution created to overcome this hurdle and get companies and their data ready for AI.

Harriet starts by scanning all existing organisational policies and documents to build a picture of what is currently in place, what is missing, and where duplicate or conflicting information exists.

It then signposts companies towards issues and helps them clean up their data, creating the right foundations for the deployment of additional AI. Harriet then sits on top of this clean data and information to become a personal HR assistant for every employee.

Accessed via Slack and plugged into other HR tools (such as ticketing systems, HRIS’ and payroll), Harriet can book staff leave, update them on company policies, find relevant documents, source payslips, and signpost them to support services, with answers tailored to the location of a specific employee.

In addition, Harriet can help with people management questions, such as providing tips on how to motivate a direct report or moderate a workshop. This removes a daily friction point for employees, who can now receive instant support based on streamlined and accurate documentation, unlocking workforce efficiencies.

In addition, Harriet provides an anonymous route for staff looking for company information that may be sensitive, such parental leave policies for those thinking about family planning, or information about booking bereavement leave.

Harriet also removes a large volume of distracting “micro requests” from overstretched People teams, enabling them to focus on higher-value, more meaningful actions around culture, compensation and training.

Harriet has been launched by two former startup founders; Cecily Motley, previously founder and CEO of Motley, and David Buxton, former founder and CEO of risk profile SaaS company Arachnys.

Cecily Motley, CEO of Harriet, commented: “The world is heading towards a future where every employee has an AI-powered assistant, with all the major tech players racing to build one. Harriet has been designed to clean up data, get companies onto the right track, and then offer the daily assistance staff and People teams are looking for.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

• Add me on LinkedIn and Twitter to keep up to date
• And follow Bdaily on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Submit press releases to editor@bdaily.co.uk for consideration.

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →