UNLEASH Startup Award 2026: The Paris finalists revealed!

UNLEASH is proud to reveal the finalists for the prestigious UNLEASH Startup Award 2026, sponsored by Playroll, that will be competing to take home the grand prize.

The best and the brightest HR startups have been competing behind the scenes – and today we are excited to announce our five finalists for this year’s competition.

These five innovative startups will compete on-site on Day One (21 October at 1.30pm on the Builder Stage) at UNLEASH 2026 in Paris in front of our panel of expert judges.

The winner will join an exclusive club of prestigious UNLEASH Startup alumni like Peakon (now part of Workday), Oneteam, Talent Alpha, Clustree, TandemHR, CandidateID, Welliba, and Vizzy.

The Finalists:

Cascade AI

How much leave do I have left? When does my bonus land? Why can't I log into this system? HR and IT teams field questions like these by the thousand every day. Seattle-based Cascade AI is putting AI agents to work answering them.

Founded in 2022 by Ana Maria Constantin, Cascade AI provides agentic AI for employee HR and IT requests, covering benefits, leave, compensation, access rights and more. The platform connects to HRIS, payroll and other enterprise systems through more than 200 integrations, including Workday, ServiceNow and ADP. Employees get personalized answers, and increasingly the platform completes tasks on their behalf.

The founders bring Harvard and Microsoft experience and are building their second startup. Cascade AI has raised around US$5.5m, led by Gradient, Google's AI fund. It already supports customers such as OneOncology and Rentokil Terminix, which has roughly 20,000 employees.

Coachello

Executive coaching has traditionally been reserved for the few. Paris-based Coachello is making it part of every manager's working week.

Founded in 2021 by Léon Wever and team, Coachello combines AI coaching with access to ICF coaches, delivered directly inside Microsoft Teams and Slack. The AI layer offers always-on support, and human coaches step in when deeper development is needed. Together, they bring personalized leadership development to more of the workforce than traditional programs can reach.

Because the platform lives inside Teams, coaching becomes a natural part of the working day instead of something employees have to go looking for. Microsoft and PMI are among its customers, and Coachello now serves more than 100 customers across 12 countries.

Mendo

Enterprises have invested heavily in Gen AI licenses, and Paris-based Mendo is helping them make sure employees actually use them.

Founded in 2021 by Quentin Amaudry and Alexandre Pinon, Mendo is a Gen AI adoption platform. It delivers guidance, upskilling and adoption analytics inside the tools people already work in every day, including Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini. Instead of sending employees away to conventional training, Mendo supports them in the moment, right where the work happens.

Mendo works with more than 100 enterprise customers, among them PwC, Crédit Agricole, Novo Nordisk and Groupe Rocher, and it competed in TechCrunch Disrupt's 2025 Startup Battlefield.

In June 2026, Mendo raised a €12m Series A led by Ventech and Educapital, bringing total funding to around €15.5m.

MuchSkills

Gothenburg-based MuchSkills puts employees in charge of their own skills story.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Daniel Nilsson, whose previous company Appland was acquired by OnMobile, MuchSkills is a skills intelligence platform built for consultancies, staffing firms and certification-driven organizations. Employees create and maintain their own skills profiles and CVs. Employers then use that data for workforce planning, staffing, skills-gap analysis, certification compliance and tendering.

The platform fits neatly into the existing HR stack, integrating with Workday, SuccessFactors, Personio and HiBob. A self-serve starter option makes it easy for organizations to get going.

MuchSkills works with organizations including BorgWarner, Knowit and the University of Basel, and supported a government program in Nigeria.

Pack

The skills-based organization has become one of HR's defining ambitions. Bologna-based Pack is helping companies get there by bringing together data and people.

Founded in 2022 by Pietro Maria Picogna, Pack pairs AI-powered skills management with a network of more than 300 coaches. The platform maps workforce capabilities and identifies development needs. Human coaches then help employees build the skills their organizations will need for the future.

Pack has reached €3.6m in ARR and works with more than 80 multinational customers, including Allianz Trade, Leroy Merlin and Edenred. Its advisor network includes former Workday CTO David Clarke.

Backed by a €5.8m Series A led by Rialto VC, the team of around 30 is now expanding across France, Germany and the UK.

The Grand Prize:

Entering the UNLEASH Startup Award offers the best and brightest of the HR tech landscape unrivalled access to the top HR analysts, thought leaders and investors.

This year’s judging panel includes David Guérin, Amanda Nolen, Juliette Moortgat, Matt Pietsch, Ralf Philipp Hofmann, and François Rouhban.

The winner will scoop a €50,000 sponsorship package for a future UNLEASH event – but please note, this figure does not include the price of the stand build and design.

The best of luck to all the finalists and we look forward to seeing you at UNLEASH 2026 in Paris.