Maki, the Paris-based conversational AI agent focused on talent acquisition, has announced the successful closing of its EUR €26 million Series A funding round.
The round was led by Blossom Capital, with participation from DST Global and existing investors Frst, GFC and Picus Capital.
“Our mission is to give human resources more-than-human powers, as we believe the future lies in a powerful mix of human ingenuity and AI-driven intelligence. Our agents don’t just assist – they do the work, enabling HR teams to focus on strategic priorities, unlocking creativity and driving meaningful organisational impact,” said Maxime Legardez, CEO of Maki.
Founded in 2022 to create a modern way of hiring for both recruiters and candidates, Maki has developed AI-driven skills tests, data and analysis tools in the form of conversational AI agents that are bias-free and help recruiters focus on candidates’ actual competencies – removing the need for “archaic” CVs and giving the ability to assess candidates faster.
Its aim is to bring this agentic AI capability into talent acquisition and management, transforming HR from a supporting function into a high-impact business driver.
In 2024, Maki experienced over 300% growth, driven by large-scale contracts with enterprise companies such as H&M, BNP Paribas, PwC, Deloitte, FIFA, Abercrombie and Capgemini. These organisations used Maki’s agent to solve critical talent acquisition and management challenges, such as streamlining workflows, enhancing candidate experience, accelerating time-to-hire and reducing employee turnover.
Maki’s conversational AI agents have been rolled out in 50+ markets globally, reportedly delivering 80% automation of screening and interviewing processes, a 3x reduction in time-to-hire and a 20% reduction in turnover.
The Series A funding will enable Maki to:
Accelerate its product roadmap in screening, interviewing, scheduling and sourcing innovations. These developments will enable companies to fully customise their AI agents, tailoring them to their unique workflows, tone of voice and operational needs.
Fuel Maki’s commercial expansion in the U.S. (which already accounts for 30% of the company’s business) and EMEA. To lead this growth, Maxime Legardez will relocate to New York City to establish the company’s U.S. hub.
Significantly expand its team in 2025, hiring 50-60 new employees across engineering, product, commercial, customer success and onboarding teams to support its ambitious roadmap and global expansion.
“From the moment we met Max and the Maki team, we were impressed by their vision, the strength of the product and the outstanding metrics they’ve achieved in such a short time,” said Ophelia Brown, Partner at lead investor, Blossom Capital. “We believe Maki’s agents have the potential to enable large organisations to reach the next level of efficiency and decision-making, redefining how HR drives business success.”
Maki’s mission extends beyond automating HR tasks. With an AI-native architecture, Maki’s agents retrieve, orchestrate and act on real-time data to enable seamless, data-driven decision-making.
According to Maki, AI isn’t an enhancement; it’s the engine.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/01/maki-raises-e26-million-to-further-hr-efficiency-with-conversational-ai-agents/
