London-based HRtech startup Origin has secured $21 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered platform that helps HR teams align employee benefits with company goals. The round was led by Felix Capital, with backing from Acadian Ventures, Notion Capital, and several notable angels, including former Meta VP of HR Tudor Havriliuc, OpenAI’s Laura Modiano, and ex-Accenture CTO Paul Daugherty. With this raise, Origin now holds a valuation of $106 million.
Built to solve a growing challenge in workforce management, Origin uses artificial intelligence to help HR professionals make sense of unstructured data — including employee feedback, surveys, performance reviews, and internal documentation. The goal? To recommend benefit packages and leave policies that best match the unique needs of each organization, while also improving operational efficiency through better vendor and commission management.
Bridging Strategy and Employee Experience with AI
Unlike traditional benefits platforms, Origin’s strength lies in its ability to extract insights from data HR teams often struggle to utilize. By transforming raw feedback and documentation into actionable intelligence, the platform helps businesses craft policies that are not just generous, but strategically aligned with culture and productivity goals.
Founded by Chris Bruce, the entrepreneur behind the Romanian benefits platform Darwin, and Peter Craghill, a former tech leader at Thomsons Online Benefits and Visualsoft, Origin has already been used in collaboration with industry heavyweights like Pfizer, Boston Consulting Group, and BP. The startup quietly began operations in April 2024 and has since positioned itself as a next-gen tool for forward-thinking HR leaders.
The new capital will accelerate Origin’s expansion into the US and broader European markets. It also gives the team room to advance its software capabilities, keeping pace with the rising demand for AI in HRtech. As companies continue rethinking employee experience, Origin is betting that AI-powered decision-making will become the norm in how benefits are managed.
Coming off a boom in HRtech funding during 2021–22, where peers like Wagestream and Factorial raised large rounds, Origin’s latest raise suggests investor confidence in platforms that combine employee care with smart business strategy.
