What Rival HR does

Rival HR (legally SilkRoad Technology, Inc., dba Rival) is a Chicago-headquartered, private-equity-owned HR software platform that provides an AI-powered modular suite covering the entire talent lifecycle. Founded in 2003 as SilkRoad Technology, the company rebranded to Rival in 2022 following acquisition by HighBar Partners, pivoting from its origins in digital onboarding to a broader talent suite. The platform comprises four products: Rival Recruit (an AI-powered applicant tracking system and sourcing tool with 750M+ embedded candidate profiles), Rival Workflow (an agentic AI-powered orchestration engine for employee journeys from preboarding through offboarding), Rival Learn (a learning management system), and Rival Perform (performance management). All four products are unified by ROSI (Rival OS Intelligence), a proprietary AI agent launched in July 2025 that delivers conversational AI, generative content, predictive scoring, and autonomous task orchestration across the platform.

Rival serves enterprise customers primarily in four verticals—Healthcare, Financial Services, Legal, and Manufacturing—with named logos including Cleveland Clinic, NYU Langone Health, Stellantis, Bendix, Redwood Credit Union, Kirkland & Ellis, and ABB. The company positions itself as a connective layer that integrates with existing HRIS/HCM systems (Workday, Oracle, UKG) and claims 2,000+ pre-built integrations across background screening, payroll, learning, and assessment providers. Compliance posture includes SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA, EU-U.S./UK/Swiss Data Privacy Framework, and HIPAA support.

The business model is subscription-based enterprise SaaS with quote-based pricing tied to modules and organizational size, distributed through a direct enterprise sales motion supplemented by a 17+ technology partner ecosystem. The workforce is remote-first, spanning the US, Europe, and the Philippines, with reported headcount of 101–250. The company has achieved analyst recognition including Fosway 9-Grid Core Leader (2020–2022), Mercer 2024 Talent Acquisition Market Matrices, Brandon Hall Group innovation recognition, and inclusion in The Software Report's Top 25 HR Software Companies of 2025.

Name

Rival HR

Legal name

SilkRoad Technology, Inc. dba Rival

Website

https://rival-hr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Rival HR is a Chicago-based, PE-owned (HighBar Partners) enterprise HR software platform serving Healthcare, Financial Services, Legal, and Manufacturing customers with AI-powered solutions for recruiting, onboarding, learning, and performance management, unified by its proprietary ROSI AI agent.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Human Resources Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Core HR & HRIS (BPACAPAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

HR Operations Administration (HRIS Admin, Records, Employee Data Mgmt) (BPACAKAC), HRIS/HCM Managed Services & Support (BPAEAGAF), HR Service Delivery & Employee Contact Centers (HR Helpdesk) (BPACAKAI), HRIS/HCM Implementation & EOR Platform Services (BPACAHAJ)

Keywords

• HR software platform
• Talent acquisition software
• Employee onboarding software
• AI HR orchestration
• Applicant tracking system

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription SaaS: Subscription-based software licensing for AI-powered HR orchestration and talent suite. Pricing likely tiered by modules (Recruit, Workflow, Learn, Perform) and organizational size. Supports both full-suite and modular purchasing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Rival HR sells an AI-powered modular HR software suite that manages the entire talent lifecycle across sourcing, recruiting, onboarding, learning, performance management, and offboarding. Its four core products—Rival Recruit, Rival Workflow, Rival Learn, and Rival Perform—are unified by ROSI, the company's proprietary conversational AI agent, and integrate with more than 2,000 ATS, HRIS, payroll, and HCM systems to deliver enterprise HR orchestration.

Product overview

Rival is an AI-powered modular talent suite that helps HR teams find the best people, launch them quickly, and support their development throughout the entire employee lifecycle. The platform consists of four core products: Rival Recruit (AI-powered talent acquisition and ATS with 750M+ candidate profiles), Rival Workflow (agentic AI-powered orchestration for employee journeys from preboarding through offboarding), Rival Learn (learning management system for onboarding and ongoing training), and Rival Perform (employee performance management with goals, feedback, and analytics). All products are powered by ROSI (Rival OS Intelligence), the company's proprietary AI that delivers conversational assistance, automated workflows, and intelligent decision support across the entire talent lifecycle. Originally founded in 2003 as SilkRoad Technology, the company rebranded as Rival and expanded from its origins in digital onboarding to become a comprehensive end-to-end talent suite.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Rival Recruit: AI-powered sourcing and applicant tracking system that delivers the right talent faster with 750M+ candidate profiles and ROSI AI.
• Rival Workflow
• Rival Learn
• Rival Perform
• ROSI

Products and services

• Rival Recruit AI-powered sourcing and applicant tracking system that delivers the right talent faster with 750M+ candidate profiles, ROSI-powered search, agentic outreach at scale, candidate CRM, ATS functionality, and analytics for enterprise talent acquisition teams.
• Rival Workflow HR workflow software with built-in agentic AI that orchestrates employee experiences from preboarding to career pathing to offboarding. Automates onboarding, employee journeys, and offboarding tasks with built-in compliance (I-9, e-Verify, GDPR) and HCM/IT integrations.
• Rival Learn Learning management system (LMS) designed to build skills with purpose, delivering customizable learning journeys, oversight, and scalable global training programs from onboarding through ongoing employee growth.
• Rival Perform Employee performance management software that keeps goals aligned, feedback flowing, and growth on track. Supports traditional reviews, agile check-ins, and project-based feedback in one unified platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• 32% more search results vs other tools
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

AI capability9 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Silver CloudminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic HR partner focused on employee wellness and engagement solutions.
• Phase 3minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHR Strategy partner providing consulting and strategic services.
• ITA GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partner for incentive and recognition programs.
• UKGcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with UKG workforce management systems, enabling automation of HR processes and data synchronization between Rival and UKG platforms.
• OraclecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partnership with Oracle Human Resources System, maximizing customers' Oracle investment through seamless hiring and onboarding integration.
• WorkdaycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Workday HCM, with ABB as reference customer having successfully passed 8,000+ new hire employee records across US, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Beamery: AI-powered talent lifecycle platform spanning talent acquisition, talent engagement, and talent management with its own TalentGPT conversational AI. Competes with Rival across multiple product modules with a particularly overlapping agentic AI roadmap and similar enterprise TA buyer targeting.
• iCIMS: Enterprise talent acquisition platform offering ATS, CRM, onboarding, and candidate engagement. Most direct competitor to Rival Recruit for mid-market and enterprise ATS deals, with overlapping target buyer (TA leaders) and similar integration-with-core-HCM positioning.
• Phenom People: Talent experience platform covering candidate experience, recruiter experience, employee experience, and HR automation with Phenom X+ AI. Closest direct peer to Rival's full talent lifecycle positioning, particularly the modular architecture and system-of-action layer play on top of existing HCM systems.
• Eightfold AI: AI-native talent intelligence platform with Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Talent Flex, and Talent Diversity modules powered by its own deep-learning AI. Competes head-on with Rival Recruit's AI sourcing and matching capabilities while also expanding into talent management, learning, and employee experience adjacent to Rival Workflow.
• SmartRecruiters: Enterprise talent acquisition suite with ATS, CRM, AI-powered sourcing (SmartAssistant), and onboarding capabilities. Direct competitor to Rival Recruit in mid-market and enterprise segments with similar focus on AI-augmented recruiting workflows and integration-friendly architecture.
• Greenhouse Software: Enterprise ATS and recruiting optimization platform with structured hiring methodology and growing AI features (Greenhouse Recruiting AI). Direct competitor to Rival Recruit in mid-market and enterprise segments, particularly for ATS-centric procurement scenarios where Rival's modular broader suite may be more than buyers need.

Broad incumbents

• UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group): Workforce management and HCM provider with UKG Pro Recruiting, UKG Pro Learning, and emerging UKG AI capabilities. Rival has a core integration partnership with UKG (Andersen Tax reference customer), positioning Rival as a complementary layer while UKG expands into the same talent lifecycle territory.
• Workday: Enterprise HCM and HRIS leader with Workday Recruiting, Workday Learning, and the new Workday Illuminate agentic AI suite. Rival explicitly integrates with Workday HCM (ABB as reference customer with 8,000+ records transferred) but competes for talent acquisition, onboarding, learning, and performance module wallet share against Workday's expanding native capabilities.
• Oracle HCM Cloud: Enterprise HCM cloud suite including Oracle Recruiting, Oracle Learning, and Oracle ME employee experience platform. Rival has a core integration partnership with Oracle HCM (Baltimore County Public Schools reference customer) and competes for talent module wallet share against Oracle's expanding native AI capabilities.
• SAP SuccessFactors: Global enterprise HCM suite covering core HR, talent management, learning, and performance with embedded SAP Joule AI. Competes with Rival for talent acquisition, onboarding, and learning modules within large enterprises, particularly those standardized on SAP ERP infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rival-hr
• Xx.com/_RivalHR
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheRivalHR

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors12 records

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 Rival HR