WillItSurvive
Job boards and HR platforms · absorbed · United States

Entelo

entelo.com ↗

Former AI candidate-sourcing platform, now absorbed into Rival's HR software suite.

Losing its protection
Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026
The structural protection is eroding.
On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from Q4 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Rival's next public retention or net-revenue-retention disclosure, if any surfaces
The call

Entelo no longer exists as a company; it is now a feature set inside Rival, competing against AI sourcing agents and LinkedIn with no clear data or lock-in advantage visible.

Entelo stopped being an independent company in August 2022 when SilkRoad bought it and merged it into a product called Rival. The company helped recruiters find candidates using Boolean search, screen resumes, and send templated messages. But new AI-powered recruiting tools from companies like hireEZ, SeekOut, and Pin are now doing this same work automatically, which makes Entelo's features less special. The one thing that could help Rival hold on is if it ties recruiting tightly into a bigger HR software package that companies depend on, but there is no public proof this is actually keeping customers loyal versus competitors like Workday or Oracle.

Why
01
AI pressure: hireEZ EZ Agent, SeekOut Spot, and similar agentic sourcing tools. Agentic sourcing agents now do Boolean search, resume screening, and outreach automatically, the exact workflow Entelo built its brand on. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: LinkedIn Recruiter (Microsoft). LinkedIn owns the professional graph recruiters actually search, leaving Rival's Entelo-derived tools with no unique data edge. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Whatever HCM suite lock-in Rival has from onboarding and performance tools bundled around the old Entelo sourcing features, though no retention data proves this holds.
What would change this call
Rival publishes or discloses enterprise HCM net-revenue-retention or logo-retention figures by Q4 2026. Would show whether HCM-suite lock-in actually keeps enterprise accounts vs. switching to rivals.
LinkedIn Recruiter or hireEZ/SeekOut ship a new agentic AI sourcing feature matching Rival's Recruit/Engage tools. Would show the sourcing workflow Entelo built is being commoditized faster than Rival can differentiate.
Findem completes further roll-ups (following Getro, Glider AI) in 2026. Would show consolidation pressure shrinking the pool of independent recruiting-tech vendors around Rival.
Key numbers
  • Entelo raised roughly $42M total before folding into Rival (2025-05-14)
  • Caplight momentum score for Rival: 25 out of 100 (2026-03-04)
  • hireEZ claims 800M+ candidate profiles vs Rival's 700M+ (2025-09-23)
Named risks
  • Entelo brand discontinued as independent product, fully absorbed into Rival since Nov 2023. Severity: high
  • Core sourcing workflow being commoditized by agentic AI tools (hireEZ, SeekOut, Pin, Noon). Severity: high
  • No independent third-party evidence of Rival's HCM-suite lock-in retaining enterprise logos. Severity: medium
  • Market roundups in 2025-2026 no longer list Entelo as an active competing product. Severity: medium
Rivals, as read in July 2026
RivalDirectionEvidence
LinkedIn Recruiterlosing toOwns first-party recruiting graph data; no structural barrier for Rival/Entelo as of 2026.
hireEZlosing toEZ Agent agentic AI launched March 2025; claims 800M+ profiles vs Rival's 700M+ (2026).
SeekOutcontestingSeekOut Spot managed AI+human sourcing competes directly in same segment, 2026.
Findemgaining onAcquired Getro Dec 2025 and agreed to acquire Glider AI early 2026, consolidating adjacent market.
Questions people ask
Is Entelo still an independent company in 2026?
No. Entelo was acquired by SilkRoad Technology in August 2022, and SilkRoad fully rebranded to Rival in November 2023. The entelo.com site now functions as a legacy page stating 'Entelo is now part of Rival' as of January 2026.
Could AI replace Entelo's product?
Entelo's core workflow, Boolean candidate search and templated outreach, is exactly what agentic AI sourcing tools automate. hireEZ launched its EZ Agent in March 2025, and Rival's own successor product ROSI extended AI into recruiting by October 2025.
Who owns Entelo now?
Entelo's technology and brand are owned by Rival, a Chicago-based HR software company backed by private-equity firm HighBar Partners. Rival absorbed Entelo's assets after SilkRoad Technology's August 2022 acquisition and its November 2023 rebrand.
Who are Entelo's/Rival's biggest competitors?
The dominant incumbent is LinkedIn Recruiter, owned by Microsoft. Direct sourcing-tool peers include hireEZ (800M+ profile index, EZ Agent launched March 2025), SeekOut, and Gem, per 2026 market comparison sites.
Did Entelo raise a lot of venture funding?
Entelo raised roughly $3.5M in a June 2013 Series A led by Battery Ventures and Menlo Ventures, then $20M in a June 2017 Series C led by U.S. Venture Partners, plus a $4M round tied to its August 2019 acquisition of ConveyIQ.
Timeline
  • 2026-07-08Rival ships ROSI Journey Builder inside its HR platform
  • 2026-02Rival ships ROSI Employee Agent and ROSI Review Writer
  • 2025-10Rival extends ROSI AI agent into Rival Recruit sourcing/screening
  • 2025-07-01Rival launches ROSI conversational AI agent
  • 2025-06-10Rival announces AI-powered outbound recruiting into any ATS
  • 2023-11-01SilkRoad Technology fully rebrands to Rival
  • 2022-08-26SilkRoad Technology acquires Entelo's candidate-search assets
  • 2019-08-26Entelo acquires ConveyIQ and raises $4M from existing investors
  • 2017-06Entelo raises $20M Series C led by U.S. Venture Partners
  • 2013-06Entelo raises $3.5M Series A from Battery Ventures and Menlo Ventures
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
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