London-based startup Vente AI is transforming the recruitment industry with its innovative use of artificial intelligence to automate lead identification and prioritization, significantly reducing the manual workload for recruitment agencies. Just six months after launching, Vente AI has secured £500,000 in pre-seed funding led by Antler, Europe’s most active early-stage VC, alongside notable recruitment technology angels like Thomas Vose of HireAra.
With the UK recruitment market facing unparalleled competition—boasting one agency for every 140 companies—Vente AI’s platform provides agencies with a powerful tool to streamline processes, increase efficiency, and generate measurable results.
“Our platform reduces business development efforts by 90%, enabling recruiters to focus on building relationships and placing candidates,” said Cameron Briggs, CEO and co-founder. The startup has already delivered tangible outcomes for early adopters, generating over £300,000 in additional revenue and saving thousands of hours in manual labor, signaling its potential to reshape recruitment practices and drive industry-wide change, Lion Herald met with Cameron to learn more about this new venture.
The journey that sparked innovation
Briggs’s journey into recruitment began at the age of 18 when, searching for a job, he accidentally landed a position as a recruitment consultant. “I walked into a recruitment agency not knowing about recruitment, but hoping they could find me a job. The next day I interviewed for a position as a recruitment consultant,” he recounted.
For over a decade, Briggs observed the industry’s inefficiencies, particularly the manual nature of business development. “Recruiters need to find customers and candidates, and the art of business development is very challenging. You have to sift through large amounts of text to see who’s hiring. This was done very manually 12 years ago—and it still is,” he remarked.
This enduring pain point became the focus of Briggs’s second recruitment tech startup. “We spoke to recruiters, and they said finding new customers was their number one problem,” he said, citing a 2024 Bullhorn study that corroborated this. “This is the first time in 10 years that business development has been named the top challenge by recruiters.”
Alongside co-founders Itamar and Octavian, Briggs joined the Antler Accelerator Program in London, where they honed their concept and developed their MVP (Minimum Viable Product). The early feedback was overwhelmingly positive. “We’ve let our early adopters guide the rocket ship in the right direction,” he said. “Some of our users were making more money, which was a strong validation of our approach.”
Briggs attributed much of Vente AI’s traction to the team’s strength and cohesion. “We’re second-time founders who’ve worked together before. This experience allows us to navigate challenges effectively,” he said, reflecting on their shared history in the HR tech space. The team’s chemistry extended to Octavian, whom Itamar met via the Y Combinator matching app. “Octavian brought in a technical perspective, and we decided to focus on business development for recruitment as the application of our technology.”
Reframing the role of AI in recruitment
At its core, Vente AI leverages artificial intelligence to address inefficiencies in recruitment while preserving the industry’s human-centric nature. “Recruitment is inherently human,” Briggs emphasized. “Vente doesn’t automate the personal relationships or the ability to find candidates. Instead, it focuses recruiters on where they should be building relationships.”
He explained the platform’s capabilities: “If 40 million jobs are posted every month, with each having 500 words in the description, no human could analyze that amount of data. Vente AI uses Artificial Intelligence to summarize this information and highlight companies that are likely to need a recruiter’s help.”
Briggs also addressed the ethical implications of AI in recruitment. “AI should not be making hiring decisions. Its output depends on the data it’s trained on, which can carry inherent biases. That’s not the problem Vente is solving. Instead, we’re enabling recruiters to make more placements, which could have a macroeconomic impact on unemployment.”
The journey to the current milestone has not been without surprises. “One recruiter told us they use Vente AI on their phone before bed to review leads. We hadn’t designed it for mobile use, but it’s great to see how adaptable the platform is,” Briggs said, noting how users have embraced Venti AI in unexpected ways.
Another fascinating discovery came from analyzing job descriptions. “Job descriptions are where companies reveal their plans in the most intimate detail. Over 25% of job adverts contain information that can be used strategically to sell into a company. Automating the extraction of these insights has been one of the most rewarding aspects of building Vente AI.”
Recruitment is often misunderstood, with many viewing recruiters skeptically. Briggs shed light on the profession’s value. “People underestimate how crucial recruiters are. They ensure companies make the right hires and decrease the time to hire, which directly impacts a company’s ability to achieve its goals.”
He added, “Recruiters help businesses meet their revenue targets by finding quality hires quickly. But the public often focuses on the negatives, like spammy job offers. Our goal is to support recruiters in delivering value.”
Briggs offered sage advice for students and job seekers preparing for an AI-driven future. “Be a specialist. Focus on doing one thing very well instead of trying to be a generalist. Understand where AI can help you be more efficient, but stay in the driver’s seat. It’s about leveraging AI to enhance your productivity, not replace you.”
Reflecting on his own career, Briggs said, “I didn’t go to university. My path into recruitment was accidental, but I found something I was passionate about. Be open to exploring unexpected opportunities—they can lead to great things.”
Looking ahead, Briggs envisions Vente AI as a transformative force in recruitment. By capturing even a small share of the UK and US markets, the company could achieve revenues of £100 million annually. “We’re in a huge market with an early-mover advantage. Our focus is to build a great product, iterate on feedback, and deliver value.”
Briggs remains grounded in the collective effort behind Vente AI’s traction. “There’s so much work that goes on behind the scenes—long nights, tough conversations, and the unwavering support of co-founders, investors, and customers. It’s larger than just me; it’s a community effort.”
As Vente AI continues to grow, its impact on the recruitment industry—and the professionals it serves—promises to be profound.
In Cameron Briggs’s own words, “Entrepreneurship is about solving problems. We’ve only just begun.”
