Even after reviewing résumés, cowl letters, and interviews, choosing the proper candidate for a job could be a mysterious course of. Hiring managers usually depend on their biases concerning the world or intestine emotions to tell their determination, making the method removed from an actual science.
That’s why Sarah Lucena constructed Mappa, an AI-powered behavioral intelligence platform that goals to take among the guesswork out of hiring. Mappa educated an AI mannequin to detect voice patterns that correlate with sure traits, resembling communication type, empathy, and confidence. Candidates merely reply some questions from Mappa’s AI agent, after which the platform sends hiring managers a shortlist of candidates with traits which can be appropriate with the position.
Mappa is a Startup Battlefield High 20 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco.
“Mappa involves the market with the purpose of actually, actually understanding individuals,” Lucena stated in an interview with TechCrunch. “We don’t actually categorize traits nearly as good or dangerous. We perceive traits as appropriate or not.”
Lucena based Mappa in 2023 together with her two co-founders, Pablo Bérgolo and Daniel Moretti, and has raised $3.4 million in a seed spherical led by Tim Draper’s funding agency, Draper Associates. In lower than three years, the startup has scaled to greater than 130 clients within the U.S. and greater than $4 million in annualized recurring income.
Mappa claims one in all its greatest benefits is information. The startup constructed extremely curated datasets particularly for understanding human conduct. Mappa initially tried to evaluate candidates based mostly on video submissions and their on-line presence; nevertheless, they’ve discovered voice evaluation to be the best technique.
Mappa’s platform has already helped corporations discover workers who stick round longer, based on Lucena. Whereas the usual annual turnover fee for corporations is round 30%, she says workers employed by Mappa have a turnover fee of simply 2%.
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Lucena says Mappa’s focus is all the time serving to corporations discover the very best individuals, however that usually ends in a extra equitable hiring course of. Mappa has facilitated over 3,000 hires up to now, and greater than 60% of them had been ladies, LGBTQ+, or immigrants. Lucena, who was born and raised in Brazil, says she’s proud to have created extra alternatives for these individuals.
Transferring ahead, Lucena says she sees Mappa evolving from a companies firm into an infrastructure supplier. The startup’s API has seen traction amongst corporations who need to use its behavioral evaluation in conditions past hiring. Tim Draper personally makes use of Mappa to evaluate founders his agency is contemplating investing in, and the tutorial platform Re-Skilling.ai makes use of the platform to know expertise that college students can enhance on.
Sooner or later, Lucena sees that Mappa could possibly be used to assist approve candidates for loans who don’t have an in depth credit score historical past. She sees Mappa as a instrument to assist assess individuals extra pretty in all types of settings.
If you wish to hear from Mappa firsthand, and see dozens of extra pitches, attend worthwhile workshops, and make the connections that drive enterprise outcomes, head right here to be taught extra about this yr’s Disrupt, held October 27 to 29 in San Francisco.
