UK startup Dex, is on a mission to transform the future of recruitment technology. They’re fresh off announcing a $3.1 million pre-seed funding round led by a16z’s Speedrun fund and Concept Ventures. Dex’s genesis grew from Dex’s Chief Technology Officer Harry Uglow and Chief Executive Officer Paddy Lambros. It simplifies the entire hiring process—it’s like your own AI voice talent agent. This dynamic new platform opens up the lines of communications between candidates and busy hiring managers. Plus, it encourages tangible relationship-building on the recruitment front.
Dex employs cutting edge machine learning algorithms to match candidates with hiring managers. This process provides useful feedback that helps sharpen the definition of what an ideal fit looks like on both sides. To date, the platform has engaged directly with more than 50 of the UK’s leading recruitment heavyweights. They provided unique perspectives on alternative recruitment approaches. As Uglow explains, understanding all the details in the complexities of the hiring process is exceedingly important. As she puts it, “Dex talks to hiring managers and candidates to really understand what the best fit would be.”
Through the use of large public datasets combined with thousands of interviews and 311 call transcripts, Dex is able to comprehensively map the entire localized job market. This makes its match ranking system better able to surface the most accessible opportunities for its candidates. The platform’s multi-turn, conversational journey allows candidates to dive deeper into their experience, skills, aspirations, and desires. Lambros notes, “Dex talks through what you want — your preferences and needs — and asks questions to deeply understand your experience and skills.”
What makes Dex different from the conventional ways of recruiting is that it can actually automate the application process from top to bottom. Candidates are spared the time-consuming task of writing CVs or cover letters, as Dex handles candidates’ applications for them. When a good match is found, it brings candidates straight to hiring managers, streamlining the whole experience.
One unique feature of Dex’s functionality is its ability to track open positions posted on the internet and trigger alerts when a position of interest is available. This forward-thinking method allows candidates to avoid wasting precious time scrolling through cookie-cutter job postings. Lambros says candidates are sick of wading through a sea of cookie-cutter job postings. That’s why Dex takes care of the searching for them, saving contractors hours of scrolling, researching, and applying.
The infrastructure is powered by the world’s leading large language model (LLM) providers, such as OpenAI, Google (Gemini), and Meta (Llama). Uglow highlights the startup’s commitment to remaining at the forefront of technology: “We’re constantly evaluating and changing providers to ensure that we are able to benefit from the latest advancements.”
Dex has already registered interest from almost every one of the UK tech firms on last year’s tech city unicorn list, including two high-profile examples. The company is still in a closed beta. It’s currently fine-tuning its offering ahead of a wider rollout later this year. The team is passionate about continuing to refine their platform in order to be sure they’re exceeding candidate and employer expectations.
Dex makes it easy for candidates to see which roles are a good match and apply directly to them. It gets them interview-ready and helps them negotiate offers. As Lambros explains, “Hiring isn’t about filling seats — it’s about building long-term relationships that offer opportunity to workers and competitive advantage to businesses.” This philosophy is at the core of Dex’s vision to change how recruitment is done.
As Dex continues to develop its capabilities and user experience, it aims to empower candidates in their career journeys while providing companies with tools to attract and retain top talent. Armed with this new injection of capital, Dex is poised to change the way companies recruit talent. First, they will make the candidate experience much better by creating genuine connections between employers and those they hope to hire.
