HR startups shaping the future of work in 2025

1. Lottie

Founders: Chris Donnelly and Will Donnelly

The Carer’s Leave Act was introduced in April 2024, allowing employees to take time off work to look after sick, elderly or disabled relatives. While this is a positive step forward, it only really presents a temporary solution to a growing problem in the UK, which is finding the right care.

Brothers Chris and Will Donnelly discovered this while trying to source a suitable care home for their grandmother, thus inspiring them to develop Lottie – a platform that helps families easily compare and choose care homes, home care and retirement properties. 

A well-deserved winner of this year’s Startups 100 Index, Lottie raised $21 million (approximately £16 million) in July 2024, helping the company continue its mission of revolutionising the care industry.

2. Zero Gravity

Founder: Joe Seddon

For people with disadvantaged backgrounds, getting into good-paying jobs is often a lot tougher – proven by the UK’s class pay gap of 18%.

Zero Gravity is working to change that by offering a matchmaking-like platform that allows students of all backgrounds to connect with over 750 state schools and essential connections, such as mentors, universities or employers.

Teaming up with major institutions like HSBC, KPMG and Morgan Stanley, Zero Gravity is all about helping students get into top universities and land the best possible careers. Through its commitment to breaking down the barriers, its platform is levelling the playing field, making sure that talent – not background – decides success.

3. Sona

Founders: Steffen Wulf Petersen, Oli Johnson and Ben Dixon

Even with the amount of advanced technology available these days, some industries, such as healthcare and hospitality, are still lagging. From slow and outdated systems to complicated processes for payroll and holiday leave, many businesses are struggling to keep up with managing their workforce.

Sona was developed to relieve those pain points – offering an AI-powered workforce management platform that streamlines the usual administrative tasks (e.g. shift scheduling and payroll processing), to help businesses save time, reduce errors and improve overall efficiency.

Having raised $27.5 million (approximately £22 million) in Series A Funding in May 2024, Sona has plans to support 2.7 billion frontline employees worldwide in the coming years.

4. Flexa

Founders: Molly Johnson-Jones and Maurice O’Brien

It was a serious blow when founder Molly Johnson-Jones was fired from her investment banking role after requesting remote work to accommodate her autoimmune condition. What’s more, her subsequent job search was plagued with anxiety, particularly as most companies weren’t transparent about their flexible working policies.

But it was this setback that fuelled the launch of Flexa – a jobs marketplace platform where jobseekers can find jobs with companies that offer true flexibility, such as remote work or flexible hours.

Flexa’s transparent approach not only landed the company an impressive £2.6 million in funding but it’s now trusted by over two million workers and over 200 million employers, including the likes of O2, Virgin Media and Mars UK.

5. Nugget Savings

Founders: Kate Guild and Harriet Morton-Liddle

Maternity pay and shared parental leave shouldn’t be complicated, yet more often than not, expecting parents are left confused over their company’s policy, particularly over pay entitlements. 

This is where Nugget Savings was born. Founded by Kate Guild and Harriet Morton-Liddle, its platform is designed to help parents navigate the financial side of parental leave with confidence. This includes its “nuggbase” feature, which has over 800 policies available, so people don’t have to risk asking companies about their parental leave policies during a job interview and risk discrimination. It also offers in-depth planners and spreadsheets for users to plan their finances and savings. 

Now, Nugget Savings has become the go-to resource for new and expecting parents, helping them take control of their finances during this new chapter.

6. UJJI AI

Founders: Ludmila Milla and Rafael Guper

While many businesses feel pressured to adopt emerging technologies, AI has become a popular solution for completing time-consuming tasks quickly, allowing teams and individuals to focus on more strategic, creative and high-value work.

But educating and training employees about AI is a whole different ballgame. That’s where UJJI AI enters the field – transforming internal business resources (e.g. PDFs, Slack messages and call recordings) into easy-to-follow knowledge, in turn creating customised training materials and interactive learning experiences.

And the company isn’t slowing down in the AI race anytime soon. Having been recognised by multiple top publications, including one of Sifted’s European EdTech Startups To Watch, UJJI AI is now setting its sights on additional funding, with plans to raise a seed round this year.

7. Volunteero

Founders: Ashley Staines and Kedar Kasarekar

Founder Ashley Staines loved volunteering, but what he didn’t love so much was how it was managed by most organisations. The inefficiencies meant that many volunteers had a poor experience, while charities missed out on valuable time and resources.

For Staines, the answer lay in digitisation, thus leading to the creation of Volunteero. By simplifying the process of volunteer onboarding, scheduling, communication and tracking, Volunteero provides an easy-to-use platform – helping organisations manage their volunteers more efficiently and improve the volunteer experience.

Aside from being backed by multiple angel investors and venture capital firms, Volunteroo has proven to make a real difference in volunteer management – now trusted by 90% of volunteers and major organisations, including Age UK, Citizens Advice and RAF Museum.