London-based startup Kinfolk has successfully closed a $7 million seed funding round led by AlbionVC to advance its AI-powered Workforce Operations platform. The company aims to redefine how People Operations teams manage their workload by automating administrative tasks directly within existing collaboration tools. This investment signals strong confidence in Kinfolk's mission to shift HR from manual coordination to autonomous execution, freeing up teams for more strategic work.
Addressing a Growing HR Challenge
People Operations teams are increasingly burdened by a high volume of repetitive administrative requests, from onboarding queries to payroll corrections. Legacy solutions, such as repurposed IT ticketing systems, helped organize this influx but failed to reduce the manual effort required. These tools merely managed the queue, leaving HR professionals to handle the time-consuming coordination and processing of each task.
The first wave of AI in HR introduced chatbots, which could retrieve information but could not complete complex actions across different systems. This left HR teams acting as a manual routing layer, connecting requests between platforms like the HRIS, email, and spreadsheets. Consequently, these teams remained stuck in a cycle of administrative work, unable to focus on higher-impact initiatives like culture and performance management.
A New Approach with Agentic AI
Kinfolk introduces a new category of "agentic AI" designed to autonomously execute tasks rather than simply manage requests. The platform's AI agents operate directly within workplace tools like Slack, where they can draft documents, update HRIS records, and manage employee lifecycle changes. This approach transforms the operating model by replacing fragmented manual processes with a unified, intelligent system that gets work done.
"HR teams are stuck in a cycle of manual admin and legacy tools are failing them," stated Jeet Mukerji, Co-founder and CEO of Kinfolk. "We built Kinfolk to break this cycle by shifting from manual coordination to autonomous execution." This vision underscores the company's goal to provide an operating system that empowers HR to scale operations and contribute more strategically to business growth.
Investment and Future Vision
The $7 million seed round, led by AlbionVC with participation from PROfounders Capital, Ascension, and notable angel investors, will fuel Kinfolk's next phase of growth. The capital is earmarked for accelerating the development of its agentic AI platform and enhancing its enterprise-readiness features. This funding will also support the expansion of its go-to-market teams to meet rising demand for its innovative solution.
Kinfolk's long-term vision is to build a comprehensive orchestration layer that unifies all workforce operations, extending beyond HR to include IT and payroll. This central control plane aims to solve employee problems holistically, regardless of which department is responsible for the underlying task. The ultimate goal is to enable organizations to scale revenue without a corresponding increase in administrative coordination and complexity.
With its new funding and innovative technology, Kinfolk is poised to fundamentally change the role of People Operations teams. By automating routine tasks and creating a unified system for workforce management, the platform allows HR to evolve from a support function into a strategic partner. This shift enables organizations to focus on what truly matters: building great companies driven by high-performing, engaged teams.