Thought Leadership
SAP is adding workforce intelligence to its HR agent strategy. The German software giant plans to acquire Belgian startup Techwolf and integrate its technology into SuccessFactors.
SAP plans to acquire AI company Techwolf, based in Ghent, Belgium. The Walldorf-based software company said the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. The companies did not disclose the purchase price. Techwolf provides a Work Intelligence platform designed to give organizations a continuously updated view of what their employees actually do and what skills they have.
A Graph for the World of Work
At the heart of the platform is a proprietary data model that Techwolf calls the Context Graph for Work. Rather than collecting data itself, the software taps into the HR and business systems customers already use.
Techwolf uses this data to model organizations across three dimensions:
- the work itself, down to individual tasks within a role
- employees’ skills and qualifications
- data from the external labor market
The platform links this information to each company’s business strategy. HR teams can use it to make better decisions about whom to hire, retrain or move into new roles. “Organizations everywhere are trying to figure out how AI is reshaping work, and what their workforce needs to look like because of it. We have spent eight years building the evidence layer to answer those questions,” says Techwolf CEO and co-founder Andreas De Neve.
Fuel for Joule and AI Agents
At SAP, Techwolf is set to become a core part of the SuccessFactors HR portfolio. Along with the Context Graph, the acquisition will bring Techwolf’s AI models and applied AI research team to Walldorf. Once the deal closes, the two companies plan to combine their workforce and skills data and enrich it with data from SAP software supporting what the company calls autonomous enterprises.
SAP makes no secret of the main goal: AI agents.
“TechWolf’s proprietary context graph for skills and work provides an excellent grounding layer for agent queries regarding work and skills planning and talent management. This grounding layer perfectly matches our strategy. It makes token usage more efficient, lowers the cost of deploying workforce agents and will make Joule more intelligent in AI-driven HR scenarios such as skills-based hiring, workforce planning and role redesign,” says Manoj Swaminathan, chief product officer of SAP’s Autonomous Suite and a member of the company’s extended executive board.
The relationship is not entirely new. SAP and Techwolf are already partners. Building on that partnership, the companies plan to develop new AI products for reskilling, internal mobility and recruiting following the acquisition.
Techwolf to Remain Independent for Now
The Techwolf platform will continue to be available to companies that do not use SAP software. Subject to closing the transaction and completing the required consultations, SAP plans to operate Techwolf as an independent company under De Neve. The company will remain headquartered in Ghent, with additional offices in London, New York and San Francisco. J.P. Morgan served as financial advisor to Techwolf.
“It’s always been our mission to connect skills, tasks and work to help employers solve AI transformation, and joining SAP will allow us to extend that mission across a broader set of business context and larger scale. In this next chapter, we plan to build a world-class AI company,” says De Neve. How long that promised independence and support for non-SAP customers will last once Techwolf is deeply integrated into SuccessFactors remains to be seen.
Another open question is how companies and works councils will respond to software that tracks work down to the level of individual tasks. In Germany in particular, employee representation and co-determination could become an important issue when such tools are introduced. SAP and Techwolf did not comment on the matter.
(Editorial Team)
