Even after reviewing résumés, cowl letters, and interviews, selecting the best candidate for a job could be a mysterious course of. Hiring managers usually depend on their biases in regards to the world or intestine emotions to tell their resolution, making the method removed from a precise science.

That’s why Sarah Lucena constructed Mappa, an AI-powered behavioral intelligence platform that goals to take a few of the guesswork out of hiring. Mappa educated an AI mannequin to detect voice patterns that correlate with sure traits, reminiscent of communication fashion, empathy, and confidence. Candidates merely reply some questions from Mappa’s AI agent, after which the platform sends hiring managers a shortlist of candidates with traits which can be appropriate with the function.

Mappa is a Startup Battlefield High 20 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco.

“Mappa involves the market with the purpose of actually, really understanding folks,” Lucena mentioned in an interview with TechCrunch. “We don’t actually categorize traits nearly as good or dangerous. We perceive traits as appropriate or not.”

Lucena based Mappa in 2023 together with her two co-founders, Pablo Bérgolo and Daniel Moretti, and has raised $3.4 million in a seed spherical led by Tim Draper’s funding agency, Draper Associates. In lower than three years, the startup has scaled to greater than 130 clients within the U.S. and greater than $4 million in annualized recurring income.

Mappa claims certainly one of its greatest benefits is knowledge. The startup constructed extremely curated datasets particularly for understanding human conduct. Mappa initially tried to evaluate candidates primarily based on video submissions and their on-line presence; nonetheless, they’ve discovered voice evaluation to be the simplest technique.

Mappa’s platform has already helped firms discover workers who stick round longer, in response to Lucena. Whereas the usual annual turnover fee for firms is round 30%, she says workers employed by way of Mappa have a turnover fee of simply 2%.

Lucena says Mappa’s focus is all the time serving to firms discover the perfect folks, however that usually leads to a extra equitable hiring course of. Mappa has facilitated over 3,000 hires so far, and greater than 60% of them had been girls, LGBTQ+, or immigrants. Lucena, who was born and raised in Brazil, says she’s proud to have created extra alternatives for these folks.

Transferring ahead, Lucena says she sees Mappa evolving from a providers firm into an infrastructure supplier. The startup’s API has seen traction amongst firms who need to use its behavioral evaluation in conditions past hiring. Tim Draper personally makes use of Mappa to evaluate founders his agency is contemplating investing in, and the academic platform Re-Skilling.ai makes use of the platform to grasp expertise that college students can enhance on.

Sooner or later, Lucena sees that Mappa might be used to assist approve candidates for loans who don’t have an in depth credit score historical past. She sees Mappa as a device to assist assess folks extra pretty in all types of settings.

If you wish to hear from Mappa firsthand, and see dozens of further pitches, attend precious workshops, and make the connections that drive enterprise outcomes, head right here to be taught extra about this 12 months’s Disrupt, held October 27 to 29 in San Francisco.