Founded by Dr. Annika von Mutius and Dr. Larissa Leitner, Empion aims to automate headhunting with artificial intelligence. For this purpose, both have developed the Empion Culture Test, with which it is possible to find out which characteristics define companies and applicants and which culture type your company corresponds to.

The investment round is led by VR Ventures, Basinghall Partners, and renowned angels from the HR tech industry. VR Ventures’ fund management team and VC firm Redstone work together as one team. With the venture capital fund VR Ventures, the experts in their field pursue the joint approach of providing a driver of innovation in the financial industry. VR Ventures invests in early-stage startups in the European FinTech and PropTech sectors, as well as in innovative digital solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises. Many of VR Ventures’ investors are part of the Volksbanken Group. VR Ventures uses this unique network and know-how to support its portfolio companies not only financially, but also professionally.

The recruiting market is worth $770 billion, and the passive candidate market is 10 times that amount, growing by nearly 10% annually. One in two employees is thinking about changing jobs. Here, the top five career satisfaction factors relate to company culture and values.

Nevertheless, corporate culture remains largely unconsidered on common job portals.

The result for many companies and applicants is inefficient hiring processes and high employee turnover. “Current recruiting solutions are of little help, especially for SMEs and young startups, as they do not offer any opportunity to focus on the key differentiation criterion: corporate culture,” says Dr. Larissa Leitner.

The Empion team brings a strong mix of entrepreneurial skills, expertise, and ambition. The two founders met during their studies at WHU. Dr. Annika von Mutius went on to earn a doctorate in mathematics and worked for a robotics startup in Silicon Valley. Dr. Larissa Leitner earned her doctorate in business administration with a focus on corporate culture and worked as Head of Marketing for an HR SaaS startup in Berlin.

“We are very excited to embark on this journey together with our great team to build an innovative HR tech company where advancement, ownership, and customer focus are at the core of our values,” said Dr. Annika von Mutius.

We are very much looking forward to working with Empion and congratulate Dr. Annika von Mutius and Dr. Larissa Leitner!