Khosla’s Keith Rabois backs Comp, which wants to bolster HR teams with AI

After graduating from Cornell University, Christophe Gerlach spent astir 2 years investing exclusively successful HR tech startups for General Atlantic. Investing was exciting, but Gerlach was yearning to get backmost into entrepreneurship.

While astatine Cornell, Gerlach (pictured above, right) built and sold a food transportation startup alongside classmate Pedro Bobrow (pictured above, left), a Brazilian native. Then successful precocious 2022, Gerlach and Bobrow (previously a merchandise manager astatine Lyft) teamed up again, merging their assemblage expertise and taste roots to motorboat Comp, an HR tech startup focused connected Brazil.

Comp is gathering AI-powered HR bundle that tin assistance with tasks similar recruiting, mounting compensation policies and designing show reappraisal systems. The startup besides provides “forward-deployed” experts — erstwhile HR executives — who enactment with customers to plan strategies for compensation, performance, and recruiting.

While companies successful Brazil often prosecute compensation consultants, Gerlach says its forward-deployed HR executives shouldn’t beryllium viewed arsenic consultants, but alternatively arsenic extensions of existing HR teams.

These executives besides play a captious relation successful refining Comp’s technology. “Our forward-deployed HR execs bash each the enactment manually astatine first, and past they usage that enactment to bid the AI however to deliberation successful champion practices,” Gerlach said.

The idea, of course, is that implicit time, Comp’s AI agents volition go afloat autonomous and susceptible of performing accepted HR functions.

While Comp presently offers AI-supported HR services augmented by professionals, its extremity is to displace some accepted consultancies and HR software. As Gerlach puts it: “Rippling sells bundle to inferior HR teams to marque them much productive. We go the HR team.”

To that end, Comp this week raised a $17.25 cardinal Series A circular led by Khosla Ventures, marking the VC firm’s first-ever concern successful a Brazilian company. Khosla wide spouse Keith Rabois has joined Comp’s committee of directors arsenic portion of the deal.

Comp is positioning itself arsenic an AI alternate to accepted compensation consultancies similar Mercer, Korn Ferry, and Willis Towers Watson. It besides competes with planetary HR platforms specified arsenic Rippling and Workday.

Gerlach says Comp launched successful Brazil due to the fact that galore companies successful the state deficiency accepted HR software, which has allowed the startup to present a new, automated exemplary alternatively than competing with established platforms.

The concern exemplary seems to person already gaining traction successful Brazil: its clients see Nubank, QuintoAndar, Creditas, and “pretty overmuch each unicorn successful Brazil,” Gerlach said. The startup is present eyeing an enlargement into the U.S. and different countries.

Other investors successful Comp’s Series A included existing backers Kaszek and Canary, arsenic good arsenic caller investors Abstract Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst.