With $4M Pre-Seed Funding, North Texas’ Humancore Launches ‘Multiplayer AI Advisor' Platform

Humancore, a Plano-based startup founded in January 2024, has launched its Multiplayer AI Advisor platform—”a groundbreaking capability designed to help managers lead with greater clarity, adaptability, and impact.” The platform is said to be built for scale across mid-market and enterprise organizations.

Humancore said that unlike traditional coaching or generic AI prompts, its multiplayer technology understands not only the manager, but also their team—providing managers with “real-time, expert-backed guidance that’s tuned to the relationships, roles, and context that shape day-to-day performance.”

“Leadership is inherently relational, and great managers flex their approach based on who they are leading. That’s what Humancore was built to support,” Co-Founder and CEO Mike Dolen said in a statement. “Multiplayer helps managers take better action, faster. This technology is backed by behavioral science, personalized to them and their team and aligned to their company’s unique strategy and culture.”

Dolen is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the rest of his team “is fully remote,” he told Dallas Innovates, adding that the company’s Plano office “serves as a central location for board meetings and leadership team gatherings.”

The company has 17 full-time, dedicated employees, Dolen said, and has “significant growth plans” for the coming years—including anticipated growth in its Plano headquarters.

Backed by $4M pre-seed funding

Founded in 2023, Humancore is backed by $4 million in pre-seed funding, with Northfield, Illinois-based Old Willow Partners as its lead investor. The company’s leadership team has backgrounds at LinkedIn, Glint, BetterUp, CEB, Kenexa, and Modern Hire.

CEO Dolen brings a great deal of experience in HR tech to the startup. Prior to Humancore, he held “key leadership positions” at companies such as LinkedIn, Glint (acquired by LinkedIn), CEB (acquired by Gartner), and Kenexa (acquired by IBM), the company says on its website.

On the website, Dolen writes that as CEO of Humancore, he is “dedicated to achieving what I’ve pursued for over 30 years—using revolutionary technology and the science of human attributes to transform how companies enable high performance and create boundless opportunities. My role is to empower a ridiculously talented team to do their best work—work that inspires engaging, high-performing work environments where individuals, teams, and organizations thrive and where people at all levels can reach their full potential.”

His leadership team includes Head of Product Ken Lahti, PhD, an industrial-organizational psychologist with over 20 years of experience in product, R&D, consulting, and sales functions. Lahti has participated in three company exits, including the acquisitions of Modern Hire by HireVue and SHL by CEB for $660 million, Humancore says.

Also on the team are Head of Technology Robert Stephens, former CTO at Modern Hire and HireVue; Head of Strategy and Growth Kevin Meyer, PhD, a military veteran with a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology who previously was VP of People Insights at BetterUp; and Head of Marketing Mary FlorCruz, who previously worked on the leadership team of Credit Karma.

Seeing a need in a ‘pivotal time for organizations’

Humancore said its launch comes at “a pivotal time for organizations.” In the past six years, the company noted, the number of direct reports per manager has tripled, while investment in development has flatlined.

The startup cited a recent Gartner survey which found that 75% of HR leaders believe their managers are overwhelmed—and most say traditional training isn’t closing the gap.

Humancore said its Multiplayer platform closes that gap by equipping managers with guidance that adapts in real-time, drawing on each individual’s working style, personality and goals. “The result: sharper leadership, stronger performance and better alignment across teams.”

The company said its key platform innovations include:

Multiplayer Personalization: Advice tuned to both the manager and their team, based on personality, working styles, interpersonal dynamics and their roles.
Organizational Context: Guidance aligned with company values, goals, leadership frameworks and culture.
Science-Backed Expertise: Every recommendation is grounded in research from organizational psychology and leadership science.
Enterprise-Grade Privacy: Data security that meets enterprise standards; no data used to train public models.

While AI tools have entered the workplace, Humancore said, organizations are finding that effective management coaching “doesn’t come from a generalized ChatGPT prompt.”

“Generative AI enables real-time support—but support only matters if it’s right for the moment and the team,” Lahti, the startup’s head of product, said in a statement. “Multiplayer blends behavioral science with AI to deliver guidance that’s not only immediate, but also personalized and contextualized for each leader’s world.”