Access Group acquires workforce management tech firm

The Access Group is to acquire Talent Funnel, an applicant tracking system purpose built for the UK hospitality sector.

Talent Funnel will join Access Hospitality and become part of Access Evo, the Access Group’s AI-enabled platform. Access Evo is designed to be interoperable, enabling organisations to work seamlessly across products, workflows and data rather than simply connecting separate systems.

Founded in 2016, Talent Funnel was created to help hospitality operators attract, hire and onboard people more efficiently through branded careers sites, candidate management and automated onboarding workflows. The platform includes AI capabilities designed for hospitality recruitment, helping operators manage high volume hiring, candidate screening, shift flexibility requirements and compliance processes.

Talent Funnel serves more than 100 customers, including the Ivy Collection, Gail’s Bakery, Itsu, Compass Group and Nightcap. The platform is used across more than 2,193 hospitality sites and supports approximately 3 million applications and the recruitment of 75,000 employees each year.

The acquisition adds a dedicated hospitality applicant tracking system capability to Access Hospitality’s existing people management portfolio, which includes Rotaready Evo for workforce management and HR, CPL Learning Evo for learning and development and Paycircle Evo for payroll.

Martin Verdon-Roe, chief commercial officer, Access Hospitality F&B, said: “Talent Funnel is the right acquisition because it has been built specifically for the way hospitality businesses recruit. The team has created a solution that meets the demands of high volume, multi-site hiring while delivering a great experience for both employers and candidates.

“The growth the business has achieved in recent years demonstrates both the quality of the team and the demand for technology that addresses hospitality’s unique recruitment challenges. We share a common vision for using technology and AI to solve real operational challenges. Bringing Talent Funnel into Access Hospitality strengthens our ability to support the entire employee journey, from attracting and onboarding talent through to workforce management, learning and payroll.”

Chris Eccles and Andre Boeke, co-CEOs of Talent Funnel, added: “Joining Access gives Talent Funnel the resources to develop our product further and faster than we could as a standalone business. We are passionate about what we have built for the hospitality sector and excited about what becoming part of Access will enable for our product, our people and our customers.

“Access shares our focus on innovation, customer success and practical applications of AI. Both of us are staying with the business and we are looking forward to the next chapter.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the acquisition is expected to complete in August 2026.

This is the latest acquisition in a series for the Access Group, having picked up order and pay specialist QikServe and WiFi provider Wireless Social in 2024, as well as Guestline and ResDiary in 2023.