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Magentic raises $18M to build the AI workforce for the physical world
Magentic has raised an $18M Series A led by Felicis, with Sequoia Capital and The Westly Group participating. Its multi-agent digital workers manage procurement workflows end to end. Customers report 2–5% savings, 60% better data quality, and $4M found at one company.
Anthropic merges Claude chat and Cowork in one interface
Anthropic is reportedly consolidating its Claude chat and Cowork interfaces into a unified product experience, with the initial rollout limited to Pro and Max subscribers. The move reflects a broader industry trend toward integrated AI workspaces but carries no direct HR-technology implication.
New Survey from Legion Technologies Finds Workforce Technology Is Improving Employee Flexibility and Operational Efficiency
Legion Technologies has released its 2026 State of the North American Hourly Workforce report, surveying hourly employees and managers across 11 industries. The headline finding, according to the company, is that modern workforce management (WFM) technology is enabling organizations to deliver greater schedule flexibility to workers while simultaneously improving operational efficiency — a pairing long assumed to involve painful trade-offs.
ESS Announces Acquisition of HeyTutor, Expanding K-12 Workforce Solutions with Tutoring and Academic Intervention Services - PR Newswire
ESS, a K-12 workforce solutions provider, has acquired HeyTutor, a tutoring and academic intervention services company. The deal reportedly extends ESS's managed workforce platform for school districts beyond traditional substitute and support staffing to encompass on-demand tutoring and academic intervention — addressing districts' growing need to source, vet, and deploy a broader range of educational personnel from a single provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Zalaris expands global payroll reach with HiBob integration, supporting HR teams across 100+ countries - People Matters - HR News
Zalaris has launched a native integration with HiBob, connecting HiBob's HRIS to Zalaris's payroll engine across more than 100 countries. The tie-up targets HR teams in multinational organizations seeking seamless HCM-to-payroll data flows without replacing either core platform.
Globalli Launches Workday Global Payroll Integration - uctoday.com
Globalli has launched a native integration between its international payroll platform and Workday's HCM system, according to UC Today. The connector is aimed at multi-country employers already running Workday who want to unify payroll data flows without commissioning a bespoke technical build.
Jack & Jill Secures $40M Series A to Replace Job Applications with AI Agents
Jack & Jill, an AI-native hiring marketplace, has closed a $40M Series A led by Air Street Capital, with Creandum and Madrona participating. The company is building AI agents that replace traditional job applications by orchestrating professional introductions between candidates and employers at scale — a direct challenge to incumbent ATS-driven hiring workflows.
Amazon raises minimum starting pay for full-time core operations employees to $20/hour, with average pay reaching nearly $24/hour, and launches grocery discount and access to new lifetime banking bene
Amazon has announced it is raising the minimum starting wage for U.S. full-time core operations employees — covering warehouse and logistics roles — to $20/hour, with average pay for those workers reportedly reaching nearly $24/hour. The company is also introducing a grocery discount benefit and access to a new lifetime banking product as part of a broader effort to improve day-to-day affordability for its frontline workforce. No HR-technology or workforce-software component has been disclosed.
HR TechnologyWorkforce Readiness Is the Day's Obsession — But Evidence Is the New Ask
Three vendors launched "readiness" products on the same day, which tells you something about where HR buyer anxiety is sitting right now.
SkillsRight acquires hellohive to fold resume tech into its skills-first talent platform
SkillsRight, a nonprofit building skills-first workforce tools, has acquired hellohive, a resume platform that helps candidates showcase skills. hellohive's technology will fold into SkillsRight's talent-intelligence ecosystem; deal terms were not disclosed.
Thatch raises $108M Series C at a $1B valuation for its ICHRA health-benefits platform
Thatch raised a $108M Series C at a $1B valuation, led by The General Partnership, to scale its ICHRA-based health-benefits platform. Strategic investors include Eli Lilly, ADP Ventures and Paychex; the company says it now serves 5,000+ employers with ARR up nearly 7x year over year.
AI SafetyEarly Anthropic hire, former METR COO have found a way to rein in rogue AI agents
Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC), co-founded by an early Anthropic hire and the former COO of AI safety evaluator METR, has reportedly raised $40 million in a Series A led by Ribbit Capital. According to TechCrunch, the startup is building technology to detect and constrain rogue AI agents, with a business model centered on AI safety and underwriting — not HR technology.
Stadium Acquires Confetti
Stadium — the company behind corporate gifting brands Snack Magic and Swag Magic — has acquired Confetti, a provider of virtual and hybrid hosted team experiences, according to WorkTech citing WorkTech. The move bundles tangible gifting with live-facilitated employee events under one roof, signaling further consolidation in the employee engagement space. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Globalli Announces Certified Workday Marketplace App, Transforming Global Payroll Operations for Workday Customers - Yahoo Finance
Globalli has secured certification on the Workday Marketplace, launching an app aimed at simplifying global payroll for Workday's enterprise customer base. The certified status signals that the solution has met Workday's integration standards, giving HR and payroll teams a vetted pathway to extend their HCM platform with multi-country payroll capabilities.
ADP National Employment Report Preliminary Estimate for August 29, 2026
ADP reportedly released a preliminary estimate of its National Employment Report for August 29, 2026, according to ADP. The feed item contains no actual employment figures or HR-technology context, making meaningful analysis impossible at this stage.
Phenom Named a 2026 Top HR Product of the Year by HR Executive
Phenom has been named a 2026 Top HR Product of the Year by HR Executive magazine, according to a September 15 announcement. The specific product or feature behind the designation was not disclosed in the announcement.
BoomerangHR emerges from stealth with $12.7M to automate offboarding and alumni networks
BoomerangHR launched from stealth with $12.7M in seed funding (led by Kalos Ventures and Album Ventures) for a platform that automates offboarding compliance and builds a verified alumni network matched to open roles. Warby Parker is an early customer.
India’s Darwinbox Secures Follow-on Investment from TVG; Amount and Round Undisclosed
Teachers' Venture Growth has made its second investment in Darwinbox, following its 2025 entry. Darwinbox serves 1,400+ companies and 4.5 million employees globally. Its AI-native HCM platform, Darwinbox Cortex™, launched in August. Investment terms were not disclosed.
Las Vegas Raiders Select UKG to Power Their Workforce Across Football and Business Operations
The Las Vegas Raiders have chosen UKG as their workforce management platform, according to a Business Wire announcement. The deal is aimed at unifying scheduling, operations, and real-time workforce visibility across both the franchise's football and business sides.
Phenom Unveils Agenda for AI Day 2026, Its Annual Technical Showcase Behind Applied AI & Agents for HR
Phenom has published the agenda for AI Day 2026, its annual technical showcase centered on applied AI and agentic capabilities for HR. The event underscores the vendor's continued investment in AI-driven hiring and talent tools, though specific product announcements or launch details have not been disclosed.
HR TechnologyNara Health Raises $14M to Reinvent Health Insurance Through AI Benefits Administration and Alternative Health Plans
Nara Health, a Chicago-based startup, has closed $14 million in combined pre-seed and seed funding led by Khosla Ventures. The company is developing an AI-native Third Party Administration platform designed to overhaul employer-sponsored health benefits, with a particular focus on offering alternative health plans that reduce premium costs for the roughly 170 million Americans covered through their employers.
Workday has a new CMO
Workday has named Sarah Kennedy Ellis as Chief Marketing Officer, effective October 5, 2026. She will report directly to co-founder and CEO Aneel Bhusri and take ownership of global marketing, communications, and brand strategy, with a stated mandate to advance Workday's AI-era growth story.
AI Governance & EthicsAgentic AI adoption outpacing governance: report - hcamag.com
A new report cited by HCAMag finds that enterprise adoption of agentic AI is outpacing the governance frameworks organizations have in place to manage it — a gap with significant implications for HR leaders rolling out autonomous AI tools in hiring and people operations.
SIA Report: The Digital Workforce in Recruitment 2026
Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) has released a global research report titled 'The Digital Workforce in Recruitment 2026,' authored by Executive Director of Global Research John Nurthen. The report examines how AI-driven digital worker agents are reportedly moving from experimental to mainstream across recruitment workflows worldwide. Specific findings and data points from the report have not been disclosed in available summaries.
Effective Strategies for Cleaning Oracle HCM Candidate Data in 2026
A practitioner-oriented guide published by Rchilli outlines data hygiene approaches for Oracle HCM Recruiting, focusing on three common data quality problems: duplicate candidate records, outdated contact information, and inconsistent skills taxonomy mapping — all of which reportedly degrade the accuracy of recruiter search results within the platform.
Recruiter.com Acquires AI Hiring Platform Feenyx - Pulse 2.0
Recruiter.com has acquired Feenyx, an AI-powered hiring platform, bolstering its artificial-intelligence capabilities within its recruiting marketplace and services portfolio. Financial terms and integration timelines were not disclosed.
Hackajob Gets a New Name, UKG Adds Voice
Three HR-tech signals in one: Hackajob is reportedly operating under a new name (details undisclosed), UKG has added voice capabilities to its platform, and Linkup's August 2026 U.S. jobs report shows active listings holding nearly flat at roughly 4.96 million.
G-P Secures #1 Position in HR Technology Advice’s (HRTA) Inaugural EOR Market Report - The Malaysian Reserve
G-P (Globalization Partners) has reportedly claimed the #1 ranking in HR Technology Advice's (HRTA) first-ever Employer of Record market report — a milestone that underscores both the company's market positioning and the growing analyst scrutiny of the EOR sector.
Jack & Jill Raises £30M Series A For AI Hiring Agents - konsulteer.com
AI recruiting startup Jack & Jill has reportedly closed a £30M Series A to build and scale AI hiring agents, according to konsulteer.com. The round underscores continued investor appetite for agentic automation in talent acquisition. Key details — including lead investor, valuation, and founding team — have not been disclosed in available reporting.
Intermezzo raises $10M for payroll infrastructure - Axios
Intermezzo, a payroll infrastructure startup, has secured $10 million in new funding to expand its platform. The raise highlights continued investor appetite for modernising the foundational layer of the HR-tech stack that powers workforce payments.
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