In an industry where legacy systems dominate and change happens slowly, three former strategy consultants are building something different. Manu Vanderveeren, Samuel Smeys and Lander Degrève, founders of Spott, have recently secured €3.2M in funding to transform how recruitment agencies operate. Spott has evolved into an AI-native ATS platform that promises to give recruiters superpowers rather than replace them entirely.

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Company Spotlight: Spott
Founded: 2024
Headquarters: Leuven, Belgium
Active: worldwide
Focus: AI-native ATS & CRM for recruitment & staffing agencies
Key Benefits: Spott enables recruiters to focus on what matters most and close more placements, across their entire workflow.

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The Origin Story: From University Friends to Co-Founders

When did your entrepreneurial journey begin, and how did your friendship evolve into a business partnership?

"We've known each other for about six years now. We met at university in our second year through a society called BRIKS. We became good friends and ended up following similar career paths," explains Manu Vanderveeren. "We hadn't specifically planned to start something together, but we were good friends who saw each other often. When we were both thinking about leaving consulting, we spotted an opportunity and went for it completely." The trio had been meeting every six months to discuss potential entrepreneurial opportunities, but they knew it had to be the right moment and the right idea. "It needed to be something we could fully stand behind, because leaving your job and going all-in is quite a significant step," Lander Degrève adds.

What drew you specifically to the staffing and recruitment sector?

"The idea emerged because at the consulting firms where we worked, we had projects for recruitment companies," Lander explains. "Especially at BCG, we worked extensively with recruitment agencies. After several projects, we saw that the potential around AI and technology was much greater than just setting strategy or doing M&A projects. That's how we came to it." They didn't jump in blindly - they tested the idea extensively, gathered user feedback, and received positive responses before committing fully to the venture.

From Point Solution to Platform

You began with a very niche focus on executive search, specifically interview recording and candidate report generation. Where do you stand today, and how do you see the product evolving?

"We started with a report writing and CV reformatting point solution where we thought we could save significant time for recruiters in time-intensive activities," Lander reflects. "We began working with our first clients and came to the realisation that there were actually much greater time savings to be found - more central to the ATS - in searching for candidates, finding candidates in databases, maintaining those databases, ensuring everything stays up-to-date." Today, Spott has evolved into a comprehensive end-to-end ATS platform. "You can handle everything from first contact with a client or candidate through to placement and follow-up afterwards. It's a much larger piece of the puzzle than originally just writing candidate reports."

The AI Advantage: More Than Just Automation

With existing ATS systems already in the market, where are you trying to make a difference?

"Many of those systems have existed for fifteen or twenty years, and little innovation happens there - certainly not at the pace we want to bring to market," Manu explains. "Switching ATS isn't something you do every day. It's quite a major undertaking, so we realise we need to provide not just two or three times better experience, but five to ten times better." The founders emphasise two key differentiators: fixing basic functionality that legacy systems struggle with, and leveraging AI to create a genuine co-pilot experience. "It's not just the AI story. First, you improve many basic functionalities and remove errors that exist in current ATS systems. For example, being able to create a client with just 2 clicks or being able to quickly search through all your notes."

What AI Can Do Today (And What It Can't)

Which parts of the recruitment workflow can AI handle today, and where are humans still essential?

"The two biggest areas for us are matching - finding the right person in the system - and then presenting that candidate through report writing and CV formatting," Lander explains. "When it comes to matching, it starts with uploading a job description and then searching through a candidate database of 10,000-100,000 people to find the right person. Not just based on the CV, but on all notes, conversations, emails, and interactions that have ever taken place with that candidate." The AI can identify specific details that might not appear on a CV. "For example, I'm looking for a lawyer - you could search for that in most legacy ATS systems - but specifically someone with knowledge in GDPR or real estate law. These are things that might not be mentioned on a CV or LinkedIn, but came up in conversation at some point." However, they maintain a human-in-the-loop approach: "We don't have any flow that runs completely autonomously. Everything is always powered by AI, but recruiters can review whether it's correct and make adjustments. That human control is very important to us."...

The Y Combinator Experience: Silicon Valley Lessons

You spent time in San Francisco within Y Combinator. What did you learn there that you've brought back to Leuven?

"The pace at which technology is developed in the United States is many times higher than what we're used to in Europe," Lander reflects. "The speed at which twenty and twenty-five-year-olds work on technology there is very impressive." "All the billboards are full of B2B software companies and AI agents. They're really fifteen steps ahead of what we do in Belgium in terms of technology. I think that's seeped into our team - if we want to compete on the world stage, this is the pace and ambition we need to set."

Funding and Future Plans

You recently raised €3.2M. What are your priorities for this capital?

"We've mainly focused on hiring engineers because our core focus is on the product. With that money, we've hired four additional engineers plus one Founders Associate," Manu explains. "The goal is to keep building the product, and then within six to twelve months, take steps to go more international. We already have clients worldwide, but it would be ideal to have a local presence for both sales and customer support, especially in the US."

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Advice for Agency Leaders

What's the most important message you'd give to agency owners and executives?

"I'd advise spending time thinking carefully about whether they're actually future-proof - how their current workflow works and how it's going to change in the future," Manusuggests. "Know where you stand, and create a roadmap project to think about where you want to be in two or three years." Landeradds a note of urgency: "Many agencies are experimenting with AI, but it's often not fully embraced because there's an objection that 'it's not good enough yet' or 'we're missing certain elements.' I can understand that feedback, but the speed at which AI is advancing is incredibly high. Even if certain tools aren't fully there today and certain functionalities aren't always 100%, it's coming." "The thought that this is something for three, four, five years from now - I think we need to reconsider that. Maybe it's worth getting into partnerships faster and looking at tools, even if they're not completely ready to go to market today."

The Competitive Advantage of Moving Fast

"What's interesting is that change management isn't any faster than it used to be," Manu notes. "So if one recruitment agency already has all those AI tools and that power, they can gain an enormous competitive advantage in a very short period, while others are still busy with the sales process and change management. With larger companies, that can take a year or eighteen months, but in eighteen months with AI, you can make an enormous leap." The message is clear: "The train has left the station. The faster you jump on and experiment and get to work with it, the better."

Looking Ahead: The End-to-End Vision

When asked about the one feature that would make CEO's renew without hesitation, Lander paints a picture of complete workflow automation: "When you can draw a complete line through the process - from 'I'm looking for someone with real estate experience who's a lawyer' to automatically searching databases and LinkedIn, contacting candidates, scheduling meetings, updating notes, and writing reports - then the only touchpoints in the process are the interactions between recruiter and candidate, and recruiter and client. Everything else runs on autopilot." "That would make a gigantic difference, allowing people to be on the phone 100% of the time rather than dealing with administration. We're not there tomorrow, but I don't see a future where this doesn't happen in the next twelve months."

Conclusion

Spott represents a new generation of recruitment technology - one that's built AI-native from the ground up rather than bolting AI onto legacy systems. With their consulting backgrounds, Y Combinator training, and clear focus on agency productivity, Manu, Samuel and Lander are positioning themselves at the forefront of an industry transformation. For agency leaders, their message is both exciting and urgent: the tools to dramatically improve recruiter productivity are here today, and the competitive advantage will go to those who adopt them first. The question isn't whether AI will transform recruitment - it's whether your agency will lead the change or be left behind by it.

Spott is proud to sponsor the “Agency Recruiter of the Year” category at this year's Talent Business Awards, celebrating excellence in the Belgian recruitment industry. Join them and other industry leaders at the gala dinner – visit talentbusinessawards.com for tickets and more information.