The Access Group buys UK hospitality hiring platform Talent Funnel

What's the deal? The Access Group has agreed to acquire Talent FunnelDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an applicant tracking system built for the UK hospitality sector. The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, is expected to complete in August 2026.

What does Talent Funnel do? Founded in 2016, it helps hospitality operators attract, hire and onboard staff through branded careers sites, candidate management and automated onboarding. Its platform includes AI features for high-volume hiring, screening and compliance.

The company serves more than 100 customers, including The Ivy Collection, GAIL's Bakery, Itsu, Compass Group and Nightcap. It supports around 3 million applications and 75,000 hires each year across more than 2,193 sites. Since 2022, its customer base has grown 435%.

What's the endgame? Talent Funnel will join Access Hospitality and become part of Access Evo, the group's AI-enabled platform. The acquisition adds a dedicated hospitality ATS to a portfolio that already includes Rotaready Evo for workforce management, CPL Learning Evo, and Paycircle Evo for payroll.

Access says the interoperable platform lets customer data, workflows and AI-driven insights flow across the employee lifecycle, from recruitment to retention. The approach aims to cut the "toggle tax" of switching between separate systems.

Why now? Hospitality operators face high turnover, seasonal demand spikes and pressure to fill roles quickly while maintaining candidate quality and compliance. Recruitment technology plays a growing role in helping them attract and retain talent.

"Talent Funnel is the right acquisition because it has been built specifically for the way hospitality businesses recruit," said Martin Verdon-Roe, chief commercial officer at Access Hospitality F&B.

Co-CEOs Chris Eccles and Andre Boeke, both staying with the business, said joining Access gives them "the resources to develop our product further and faster than we could as a standalone business."

The signal: The deal reflects consolidation of specialist recruitment technology into broader people-management platforms, as software vendors bundle hiring, HR, learning and payroll into single AI-driven systems for high-turnover industries.

Read more: The Global Recruiter