MentorcliQ, an employee development software company based in Columbus, Ohio, has acquired Neobrain, a Paris startup that maps employees' skills and matches them with internal jobs and projects. The deal was announced on October 21, 2026.
Terms were not disclosed. Neobrain's teams will stay in Europe and keep serving existing customers, and its leadership, including co-founders Paul Courtaud and Jérémy Jaillant, will remain in place.
MentorcliQ said the combined platform will link three things: a skills ontology that describes what employees can do, an internal talent marketplace, and the mentoring programmes and employee communities MentorcliQ already runs. The deal also expands MentorcliQ's footprint outside the United States.
What Neobrain built
Neobrain was founded in Paris in 2018. Its software combines skills intelligence, career pathing, an internal talent marketplace and strategic workforce planning, so that HR teams can see what skills their staff have, anticipate what they will need, and point employees towards new roles.
Since 2023 it has also offered AI agents for HR. MentorcliQ said these can tell an employee how their skills line up with an emerging role, suggest a course or project to close the gap, and connect them with a colleague who can help, and can help HR teams manage the skills ontology and spot new workforce needs.
The platform serves more than 1 million employees across 80 countries in 17 languages. Neobrain previously bought US start-up Flashbrand in 2023, according to Centre Inffo, and works with partners including PwC in the United States, Coursera and Edflex.
“AI transformation isn't just about adopting new technology. It's about fundamentally rethinking the skills and capabilities organizations need to succeed.”
Why MentorcliQ is buying
MentorcliQ was founded in Columbus in 2012 and says its platform serves more than 6.5 million employees at companies including Global Fortune 500 firms. Its software runs mentoring programmes and employee communities, but it did not have Neobrain's depth in mapping skills and internal mobility.
MentorcliQ framed the purchase around AI changing jobs. It cited a World Economic Forum estimate that 39% of workers' current skills will be transformed or become outdated by 2030.
"AI transformation isn't just about adopting new technology. It's about fundamentally rethinking the skills and capabilities organizations need to succeed," said Phil George, MentorcliQ's president and chief executive.
"For years, companies have mapped skills without fully activating that knowledge," said Courtaud. He said MentorcliQ adds the human connections that turn skills data into employee growth.
The founders and the funding
Courtaud founded Neobrain in 2018 and has run it as chief executive. In March 2022 the company raised €20 million in a round that Finyear described as its Series A, from Alter Equity, Crédit Mutuel Innovation, XAnge through La Poste Ventures, and existing investor Breega. At the time it had grown from 15 to 80 employees and counted more than 80 large accounts, including Bosch, Natixis, Edenred, Sage and Promod.
The years after that round were harder. Centre Inffo reported in December 2025 that integrating Flashbrand had proved more difficult than expected, that Neobrain had closed its overseas offices, and that it reached positive EBITDA and net profit in June 2025 after about 18 months of work on profitability. By then the United States accounted for nearly half of its revenue.
MentorcliQ itself raised more than $80 million from growth equity firm PSG in 2023, according to Dealroom. Neobrain's current headcount and the price paid were not disclosed.
HR software consolidates around skills
Skills-based hiring and internal mobility have become a crowded part of HR software, with large suites and specialist startups all selling skills taxonomies and talent marketplaces. Smaller vendors have found it hard to grow alone, and several have been folded into broader platforms.
For MentorcliQ, Neobrain brings European customers and a product it would otherwise have had to build. For Neobrain, which had already made its business profitable, the deal gives it a larger owner with a big US customer base. The companies did not say whether the Neobrain brand will be kept.
