The Hacking Games

What The Hacking Games does

The Hacking Games (legally THG Ventures Ltd) is a London-based private company founded in 2023/2024 that operates a media, community, and technology platform aimed at converting unconventional cyber talent — primarily Gen Z gamers, CTF players, bug bounty hunters, and neurodivergent individuals — into the cybersecurity workforce. Its core product is HAPTAI (Hacking Aptitude AI), a proprietary AI-driven assessment that ingests Steam gaming history, GitHub repositories, CTF challenge scores, bug bounty submissions, TryHackMe performance, and LLM-based interview transcripts to score candidates across 39 cyber aptitudes and 9 hacking personas, and to match them with open cybersecurity roles.

The platform operates as a two-sided marketplace. The candidate side is free and self-serve (freemium), with candidates building profiles and receiving aptitude reports without CV or experience thresholds. The employer side is monetised via annual subscription for talent sourcing, team calibration, and AI-assisted development coaching, with team calibration offered as a free entry point. Distribution combines a product-led web platform, a Discord community, partnerships with corporate cybersecurity firms and educational institutions (most prominently a Co-op Academies Trust pilot across 38 schools reaching 20,000 students), and an ECSO-led European expansion. The company is privately held, has not disclosed institutional venture funding, and has won the RSAC Launch Pad 2025 award.

Name

The Hacking Games

Legal name

THG Ventures Ltd

Website

https://thehackinggames.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Hacking Games operates HAPTAI, an AI-driven aptitude platform that profiles Gen Z gamers, CTF players, and unconventional cyber talent across 39 cyber aptitudes and 9 personas, then matches them to cybersecurity roles via employer subscriptions, corporate partnerships, and school-based pipelines.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cybersecurity Talent Platform

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Software Publishers (51321)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Cybersecurity, Bot Mitigation & Platform Integrity (MPAEAKAL)

Keywords

• Cybersecurity talent platform
• Aptitude assessment software
• Talent matching technology
• Ethical hacker recruitment
• Cybersecurity hiring platform

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Employer Talent Sourcing Subscription: Subscription-based access for employers to pre-screened, work-ready cyber talent pool. Talent is pre-screened for role suitability, skills, and aptitude match, ranked by work-readiness to reduce interview time and speed hiring.
2. Team Development Coaching: Always-on team development coaching based on psychological profile and goals for employed hires. Part of ongoing employer subscription services.
3. Free Candidate Platform: Free platform for candidates to build profiles, discover hacking personas, and access job matching. Revenue comes from employer subscriptions rather than candidate fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

The Hacking Games operates HAPTAI (Hacking Aptitude AI), a software platform that analyses candidates' gaming history (Steam), GitHub repositories, CTF challenge scores, bug bounty submissions, and structured interview data to build hacking aptitude profiles across 9 personas and match candidates to cybersecurity job openings. The company sells employer subscription access to its pre-screened, work-ready talent pool while offering the candidate-facing aptitude assessment free of charge.

Product overview

The Hacking Games is a media, community, and technology platform built around HAPTAI — its core Hacking Aptitude AI — as the primary product. HAPTAI analyses gaming behaviour, code repositories, and structured assessments to profile users across nine hacking personas and match them to cybersecurity roles. This core engine is complemented by a Discord community, The Feed (a media/content platform), and the Virtu-os Community of corporate partners who provide mentorship and hiring pipelines. The Co-op partnership adds a school-based intervention programme. All offerings feed into a unified mission of converting unconventional cyber talent (gamers, CTF players, bug bounty hunters) into the cybersecurity workforce.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HAPTAI: Hacking Aptitude AI platform that assesses unconventional talent by analysing gaming history, GitHub repos, CTF challenge scores, and bug bounty submissions to build hacking aptitude profiles and match candidates to cybersecurity roles.
• Virtu-os

Products and services

• HAPTAI (Hacking Aptitude AI) AI-driven aptitude assessment platform that reads users' gaming history (Steam), GitHub repos, CTF scores, bug bounty achievements, and interview data to build hacking persona profiles and match candidates to cybersecurity roles. Generates Aptitude Reports shared with employers for hiring decisions. Free for candidates with no CV or experience threshold.
• HAPTAI for Employers / Recruiters Employer-facing module of HAPTAI enabling hiring teams to screen candidates, calibrate top performers, view aptitude reports, access a talent pool, and generate AI-assisted development plans. Integrates upstream of existing ATS/hiring tools. Sold as an annual B2B subscription.
• Virtu-os Community Corporate partner community comprising cybersecurity and technology companies (Sophos, Veracode, ThingsRecon, Immersive, ECSO) committed to creating ethical hackers. Provides mentorship, training resources, and hiring pathways for identified talent to the member companies.
• The Feed Content platform delivering real-time cybersecurity news, event listings, career guides, interviews, and industry media. Features content from partners including Co-op and profiles of community figures such as Marcus Hutchins, Shawnee Delaney, Chris Kubecka, and Bryan Seely.
• Co-op Partnership ('From Play to Purpose') Initiative with Co-op to identify young cyber talent in schools and redirect it toward ethical careers. Includes pilot programmes across Co-op Academies Trust schools, parent/teacher resources, and a research study led by Oxford University.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced interview time through pre-screening
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability8 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Co-opflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 July 2025Strategic partnership with Co-op to prevent cybercrime by identifying young cyber talent and channeling skills into ethical careers. In wake of Co-op's cyber attack, partnership includes pilot in Co-op Academies Trust (38 schools, 20,000 students), research study with Oxford Professor Lusthaus, and long-term national movement ambitions. Focus on prevention, early intervention, and awareness raising among youth.
• ImmersivecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 July 2025Partnership with Immersive's Cyber Million programme to foster next-generation cybersecurity talent. Immersive known for cyber drills, exercising, and hands-on labs. Anyone over 16 can register, complete curated exercises matching skill requirements, and apply to open employment partner roles. Practical, evidence-based, skills-first approach.
• ThingsReconminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 July 2025Partnership with startup redefining attack surface discovery. Tim Grieveson (CSO/EVP at ThingsRecon) highlighted commitment to developing soft skills that encompass hacking mindset. ThingsRecon expertise in attack surface discovery prepares new talent for realities of modern cybersecurity.
• ECSO (European Cyber Security Organisation)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 April 2025Strategic partnership with ECSO as part of Road2Cyber initiative to fortify Europe's cybersecurity resilience. ECSO brings over 330 stakeholders. Partnership includes Women4Cyber Foundation for diversity and inclusion. Aims to inspire, train, and recruit generation of ethical hackers.
• VeracodecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2025Partnership with global leader in application risk management. Veracode joins founding partners community committed to creating ethical hackers. Collaboration aims to close growing labor deficit in cybersecurity through inspiring, training, and recruiting Gen Z talent.
• SophosflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Sophos is the inaugural sponsor of The Hacking Games corporate community (Virtu-os). Partnership supports mission to create generation of ethical hackers and inspire millions of young people to join fight against cybercrime. Sophos passionate about encouraging new talent into cybersecurity industry.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pymetrics: Pymetrics applies neuroscience-based behavioral assessments to predict job fit and reduce bias in hiring, with a strong emphasis on neurodivergent and non-traditional candidates. Overlap with THG is high on the behavioral/psychometric methodology and on the employer value proposition of finding unconventional talent.
• Immersive Labs: Immersive Labs delivers hands-on cyber drills, exercises, and skills-first hiring pathways (Cyber Million) that identify and credential cyber talent for employers. It overlaps with HAPTAI on cyber-talent identification and is also a THG partner, making it both a peer and a channel.
• Codility: Codility provides online coding assessments and recruitment analytics used by global employers to evaluate engineering candidates. It competes with HAPTAI for the same enterprise screening budget, although Codility focuses on coding tests rather than gaming-behavior-derived aptitude.
• HackerRank: HackerRank is a leading technical assessment platform for developer hiring, used by enterprises to screen and benchmark coding candidates. It is directly comparable as an upstream, pre-ATS screening layer that employers pay subscription fees to access, though its input signals are code-only versus THG's gaming-behavior signals.
• Arctic Shores: Arctic Shores builds psychometric assessments that use gamified tasks to predict cognitive and behavioral traits for hiring. It is the closest methodological peer to HAPTAI, also leveraging game-derived behavioral data to assess candidates — including neurodiverse talent — and match them to roles.

Emerging players

• TryHackMe: TryHackMe is a gamified cybersecurity upskilling platform that helps users build and demonstrate practical cyber skills; its data is already an input signal to HAPTAI. It is comparable as a Gen Z-friendly cyber learning and signal-generation environment feeding the talent pipeline that THG matches into jobs.
• RangeForce: RangeForce delivers hands-on cyber defense readiness simulations and team-skill measurements for enterprise security teams. It is comparable as a cyber skills-emer assessment platform whose employer value proposition (measurable, simulation-based cyber readiness) overlaps with HAPTAI's work-readiness ranking.

Broad incumbents

• SANS Institute: SANS Institute is the dominant incumbent in cybersecurity training and GIAC certifications, feeding the traditional credential-based pathway that HAPTAI aims to bypass. It is comparable as the established route by which employers source and qualify cyber talent.
• (ISC)²: (ISC)² administers the CISSP and related certifications and is a key voice quantifying the global cyber workforce gap. It is comparable as the credential-based incumbent THG positions HAPTAI against, while also being a likely employer-side customer for HAPTAI-screened candidates.
• Pluralsight (A Cloud Guru): Pluralsight provides enterprise technology skills assessments, learning paths, and talent benchmarking used by employers to identify and upskill tech staff. It is comparable as a broad incumbent in tech skills assessment and development with overlapping employer budgets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/THG_Global
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@the_hacking_games
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-hacking-games
• Instagraminstagram.com/the_hacking_games
• TikToktiktok.com/@the_hacking_games

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Hacking Games