Iceland's 50skills Just Raised $6M to Put AI Agents in HR

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-24

### The $6M Bet on AI-Powered HR HR teams are drowning in busywork. You know the drill—endless emails, spreadsheets held together with hope, and processes that were never meant to talk to each other. Now, a Reykjavík-based startup called 50skills just raised €5.3 million (about $6 million) to change that. The round was co-led by Frumtak Ventures, Swiss Post Ventures, Avant, and American family office DRD Investments. And it's not just about hiring more people—it's about building an operating system for people workflows that actually makes sense. ### What 50skills Actually Does Founded in 2017, 50skills is building infrastructure where humans and AI agents run processes together. Think of it as a central nervous system for HR. The platform combines deterministic workflows (the stuff that must run the same way every time), AI agents (for tasks that need interpretation), and human oversight (for decisions that require judgment). All of it wrapped in governance and security that HR teams can trust. > "The hard part is the balance: deterministic workflows where a process has to run the same way every time, probabilistic agents where a step needs interpretation, and human oversight, governance and security throughout," says co-founder and CEO Kristján Freyr Kristjánsson. "For HR and people operators, that balance is not optional, it is the job." That's the key insight. AI isn't replacing HR—it's giving HR teams superpowers. But only if you get the mix right. ### The Problem They're Solving HR teams manage hundreds of recurring processes. Onboarding, offboarding, performance reviews, compliance checks—the list goes on. But many still rely on email threads, spreadsheets, and manual coordination across systems that were never designed to work together. It's like trying to run a modern factory with hand tools. 50skills brings those processes into a single platform. HR teams describe what they want in plain language, and the platform turns it into an operational workflow connected to the systems the organization already uses. From there, automation handles predictable work, AI agents handle tasks requiring interpretation, and people stay in control of decisions that need human judgment. ### Two Products, One Goal The company offers two main products: - **Hire**: An applicant tracking system that streamlines recruitment. - **Journeys**: An AI-powered platform for building and running people processes. With Journeys, HR teams describe a process in plain language; the platform builds it, runs it, and keeps a complete record of every step. It's like having a personal assistant who never forgets anything and can coordinate across all your systems. ### Traction and Clients 50skills isn't just a nice idea. Over the past 12 months, its platform has been used to complete more than 4 million actions by HR teams in the Nordics and the UK. Notable clients include Icelandair, Eimskip, Blue Lagoon, Domino's, and Securitas, as well as public-sector bodies like the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the City of Reykjavík. ### What's Next? The new funding will accelerate hiring in sales, marketing, and community, while continuing to invest in the platform—especially the AI agents that work alongside HR teams. As Ásthildur Otharsdóttir, Partner at Frumtak Ventures and Chair of the 50skills board, puts it: "As AI changes how work gets done, the companies that win will be those that bring people, workflows and AI agents together safely and effectively." For HR leaders tired of juggling a dozen systems, 50skills offers a glimpse of a future where technology actually makes their jobs easier. And with $6 million in fresh capital, they're poised to bring that future to more organizations.