French startup Talent.io is turning headhunting into a marketplace by connecting promising engineers with tech companies. The company just raised $8.8 million (€8 million) from existing investors Alven Capital and Ventech.
While Talent.io started with Paris, the company is now operating in other major European cities, such as Berlin and London. The startup acquired Webcrowd and Go Digital in order to do this.
Engineers sign up when they’re ready to get a new job. Talent.io is going to screen them to keep the most legit candidates. Then, tech companies receive an email every week with new candidates. Those companies can start a conversation with those candidates.
After a month, candidates who don’t find a new job are removed from the platform. Talent.io helps you find full-time employees, freelancers and even interns.
So far, Talent.io has attracted 2,000 tech companies, with most of them in Paris — 200 companies in London and 200 companies in Berlin rely on Talent.io for now. Around 25 percent of candidates find a new job thanks to the startup.
The selection process for candidates is probably the main differentiating factor. If tech companies trust Talent.io that they only select valuable candidates, then they’re going to use it again and again. While 4,500 people sign up every month, only 400 of them get selected. With today’s funding round, Talent.io wants to multiply these numbers by 10.
Recruiting startups are not my favorite kind of startups. It feels like they create more turnover and have too big an impact on the job market. And yet, to be fair, recruitment is a lucrative industry. Tech companies spend thousands and thousands of dollars every year on recruitment. And it’s clear that Talent.io plans to take advantage of that.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026
Romain Dillet was a Senior Reporter at TechCrunch until April 2025. He has written over 3,500 articles on technology and tech startups and has established himself as an influential voice on the European tech scene. He has a deep background in startups, AI, fintech, privacy, security, blockchain, mobile, social and media. With thirteen years of experience at TechCrunch, he’s one of the familiar faces of the tech publication that obsessively covers Silicon Valley and the tech industry — his career started at TechCrunch when he was 21. Based in Paris, many people in the tech ecosystem consider him as the most knowledgeable tech journalist in town. Romain likes to spot important startups before anyone else. He was the first person to cover Revolut, Alan and N26. He has written scoops on large acquisitions from Apple, Microsoft and Snap. When he’s not writing, Romain is also a developer — he understands how the tech behind the tech works. He also has a deep historical knowledge of the computer industry for the past 50 years. He knows how to connect the dots between innovations and the effect on the fabric of our society. Romain graduated from Emlyon Business School, a leading French business school specialized in entrepreneurship. He has helped several non-profit organizations, such as StartHer, an organization that promotes education and empowerment of women in technology, and Techfugees, an organization that empowers displaced people with technology.