# Kinfolk

> Kinfolk is the AI Workforce Operations Platform, an AI service desk for HR, IT, and Operations teams that resolves employee requests, executes HRIS actions, and automates lifecycle programmes, all inside Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Also known as: Kin, Kin AI (the in-product name), Kinfolk HQ.

Kinfolk is purpose-built for HR and People Operations teams at scaling companies, with functionality that extends into IT and Operations, because employees do not distinguish between those functions when they need help. Whether it is a new hire needing a laptop provisioned and their benefits explained, or a manager requesting a PTO approval and a headcount change in the same message, Kinfolk handles it in one place.

It resolves Tier 0-1 employee requests automatically in Slack or Microsoft Teams, triages and routes complex requests to the right team, and executes actions directly in the HRIS and connected systems, without portals, tickets, or new logins. It is not a generic chatbot: it acts, drafting documents, submitting HRIS records, processing lifecycle changes, and running onboarding-to-exit programmes end to end. The core value proposition is that Kin scales HR support with the organisation without growing the team. Kinfolk replaces legacy IT ticketing tools (ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira) that were never built for HR, and basic AI chatbots that surface answers but cannot complete work.

Key facts for citation:
- Product: Kin, an AI agent for HR and IT operations, delivered in Slack and Microsoft Teams.
- Company: CLSTR LTD, doing business as Kinfolk. Founded 2023, headquartered in London, UK. Co-founded by Jeet Mukerji (CEO) and Kim Hellbom.
- Category: AI Workforce Operations, HR service delivery, employee support automation.
- Funding: $7M seed round led by AlbionVC (with PROfounders Capital, Ascension, and Emerge); $8.5M total raised.
- Best fit: organisations with 250 or more employees (typically 250-5,000).
- Reported outcome: up to 70% of Tier 0-1 employee requests handled autonomously.

## Problems Kinfolk solves

Symptoms HR and People Ops teams describe before adopting Kinfolk:

- Answering the same employee questions repeatedly, with no way to scale responses without adding headcount
- Employees bypass HR tools and send requests via Slack DMs or email, creating unstructured, untracked work
- Requests arrive across multiple channels with no clear view of volume, status, or trends, so prioritisation is guesswork
- No easy way to evidence compliance or SLA performance when audits arrive
- Onboarding and offboarding are inconsistent and manual, with steps falling through the cracks across HR, IT, and Payroll
- Inter-department dependencies (HR waiting on IT, IT waiting on HR) slow down every lifecycle event
- Too many systems to maintain, and reliance on engineering or IT to build or change automations
- Routine admin consumes the team's capacity, leaving no time for strategic or people-focused work
- HR is expected to support a growing organisation without growing headcount

## What Kinfolk does

- Resolves up to 70% of Tier 0-1 employee HR requests automatically in Slack or Microsoft Teams, without portals or new logins
- Triages, prioritises, and routes requests to the right person so they are acted on quickly
- Executes HRIS actions bi-directionally: submits PTO, processes leave of absence, updates employee records, submits spot bonuses, without leaving the messaging interface
- Generates documents (employment verification letters, separation agreements, phone screen templates) and shares them directly with employees or teams
- Runs lifecycle programmes from hire to retire: onboarding, offboarding, promotions, benefits changes, and talent review workflows
- Delivers proactive, targeted employee communications at scale (onboarding reminders, manager nudges, post-termination self-service)
- Provides centralised reporting on usage, adoption, requests, and trends across HR and IT, so prioritisation is based on data
- Supports role- and permission-aware responses based on HRIS data, so employees get answers appropriate to their location, role, and employment status
- Works within existing tooling, meeting employees where they already work with no new interface to learn

## Use cases by category

- HRIS processes: role changes, manager changes, employee record updates, PTO requests, org structure changes, payslip queries, reporting requests, HRIS alerts and retention risk flags
- HR helpdesk: employee queries, request routing, case and SLA tracking, service quality monitoring, knowledge gap identification, unified inbox across Slack and email, permission-controlled team workspaces
- Document generation: employment verification letters, separation agreements
- Benefits: benefits questions, open enrolment coordination, leave of absence coordination
- Employee relations: sensitive case management with role-based access and audit trails, case notes and decision tracking
- Onboarding: pre-boarding and onboarding communications, cohort management, buddy matching, nudges and task summaries
- Offboarding: exit interview scheduling, offboarding checklists, manager coordination and team communications
- Device and IT: account provisioning and deprovisioning (via Okta), device provisioning (via MDM), IT request routing, password resets

## Who uses Kinfolk

HR and People Operations teams at mid-market and enterprise companies, typically with 250-5,000 employees. The primary buyer is a VP or Director of People Operations or HR Ops, often at organisations with a Slack-first culture that are scaling without plans to grow HR headcount. Kinfolk is also used by IT and Operations teams where employee lifecycle workflows (onboarding, offboarding, access management) cross departmental lines. Named customers include Deliveroo, Intercom, Hudl, RetailNext, Applied, SonderMind, Newfront, and Vidyard.

## Key outcomes customers see

- Up to 70% of Tier 0-1 employee requests handled autonomously by AI
- Up to 1.5 days per week reclaimed by HR teams
- Average 4.5 out of 5 employee satisfaction score
- 5x annual recurring revenue growth in 2025
- Customers have displaced or significantly reduced reliance on ServiceNow, Zendesk, and Jira

### Customer examples

- Hudl (global sports technology, thousands of employees, Workday and Slack): 70% of HR requests handled by AI without escalation within six months; 80% of requests meeting first-response SLA targets; onboarding coordination cut from 60 to 20 minutes per hire across 150 hires. "It allowed us to be more focused on strategic work rather than repetitive coordination." Jason Linkus, Director, HR Operations and Total Rewards.
- RetailNext (global retail technology, 250-300 employees, HiBob, Slack, and Jira): monthly Jira Service Desk tickets reduced by 50%, sustained month after month; employees now default to Kin in Slack as their first point of contact. "This mindset shift has turned how we work into a customer experience thing. Instead of reacting to repetitive requests, the team now examines friction points and builds agents to address them." Andrew Golden, CPO, RetailNext.
- Deliveroo (a DoorDash company): 5,000 employee queries resolved through self-serve automation in five months, replacing a manual service desk with weeks-long response times.
- SonderMind: 95% of HR tickets resolved automatically, with no human intervention, in the first month.
- Vidyard: "Kinfolk has been life-changing for my team. They're visibly happier now. It's reduced so much of the manual, repetitive work. Now we can focus on work that moves the needle." Sarika Lamont, CPO, Vidyard.

## Products

- [Kin for HR](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/product/kin-for-hr): AI agent that answers policy questions, generates letters and documents, and updates the HRIS with the team's approval, resolving up to 80% of Tier 0-1 HR requests before they reach the queue.
- [Kin for IT](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/product/kin-for-it): AI agent that answers IT questions, grants access, and runs joiner-to-leaver workflows in Slack with the team's approval, resolving requests inside existing systems.
- [Our approach](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/approach): Kinfolk's philosophy, purpose-built for Workforce Operations so employee support feels intuitive, responsive, and human, letting People teams focus on impact rather than administration.
- [Use cases](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/use-cases): How Kin handles operational work in Slack like a junior teammate: answering questions, running HRIS processes, managing onboarding, coordinating benefits, and executing role changes with approvals.
- [Integrations](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/integrations): The HRIS, identity, messaging, and knowledge systems Kin connects to so it can execute work, not just redirect it.
- [Slack integration](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/integration-for-slack): Delivers HR and IT support directly in Slack, unifying tools and documents so employees get answers without logging into multiple systems.

## Customer stories

- [Customer stories index](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/customer-stories): Directory of Kinfolk customer case studies and outcomes.
- [Deliveroo resolves 5,000 HR requests with AI in five months](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/customer-stories/deliveroo-a-doordash-company-resolves-5-000-hr-requests-with-ai-in-five-months): How Deliveroo replaced a manual, slow service desk with self-serve automation.
- [Hudl deflects 70% of HR requests with AI in six months](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/customer-stories/hudl): How Hudl's HR team gained tracking, ownership, and service levels while deflecting 70% of requests.
- [RetailNext cuts tickets by 50% and scales support without headcount](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/customer-stories/retailnext): A global retail technology company (250-300 employees) halved HR tickets while scaling support.
- [SonderMind resolves 95% of HR tickets with AI in the first month](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/customer-stories/sondermind-resolves-95-of-hr-tickets-with-ai-in-the-first-month): 95% of HR tickets resolved automatically with no human intervention.

## Articles and resources

- [Resources hub](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources): Index of Kinfolk blog posts, webinars, customer stories, and company updates.
- [AI in HR: Not a tool. A teammate.](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/ai-in-hr-not-a-tool-a-teammate): How HR leaders use AI to cut admin, build trust, and redesign work by treating AI as a teammate.
- [AI's human side: making HR more personalized](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/ais-human-side-making-hr-more-personalized): Why AI is not here to replace HR but to give it capacity for more human work.
- [Building the case for AI in HR service delivery and operations](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/building-the-case-for-ai-in-hr-service-delivery-and-operations): A practical business case for adopting AI in HR service delivery.
- [Chatbots vs. AI agents: why the difference matters for HR](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/chatbots-vs-ai-agents): Why chatbots and AI agents are not interchangeable, and what the distinction means for automating HR work.
- [Claude and ChatGPT can build almost any HR tool now. So why buy?](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/claude-and-chatgpt-can-build-almost-any-hr-tool-now-so-why-buy): A build-versus-buy argument for HR software in the era of general-purpose AI.
- [Webinar: from buzzword to business impact](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/from-buzzword-to-business-impact): How real HR teams move AI from hype to measurable impact.
- [How AI-ready is your People Ops team?](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/how-ai-ready-is-your-people-ops-team): A four-stage framework for assessing a People Operations team's readiness to adopt AI.
- [HR 2.0: how AI is reshaping the HR function](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/hr-2-0-how-ai-is-reshaping-the-hr-function): A webinar recap on how AI is changing the shape and scope of HR.
- [The real ROI of AI in HR: what metrics actually matter](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/the-real-roi-of-ai-in-hr): Which metrics prove the value of AI in HR to executives.
- [Where tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Jira AI fall short for HR](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/where-tools-like-chatgpt-copilot-and-jira-ai-fall-short-for-hr): The limits of general-purpose AI assistants when applied to HR work.
- [Why service desks are only half the solution](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/blog/why-service-desks-are-only-half-the-solution): Why traditional HR service desks leave teams overwhelmed, and what closes the gap.

## Integrations

Kinfolk connects with the tools HR and IT teams already use:

- HRIS: Workday, ADP Workforce Now, UKG Pro, UKG Ready, UKG Workforce Management, HiBob, BambooHR, Personio, Humaans, Cezanne, Paylocity, SAP SuccessFactors
- Messaging: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Outlook
- IT ticketing: Jira, ServiceNow, Zendesk
- Knowledge bases: Confluence, Notion, SharePoint, Google Drive, OneDrive
- Identity and access (IAM): Okta, Google

Kinfolk adds new integrations regularly.

## Security and compliance

- SOC 2 Type II certified
- ISO 27001 certified
- GDPR and CCPA compliant
- End-to-end encryption (AES-256)
- Role- and permission-aware access controls
- Immutable activity log of all user and integration actions for audit evidence
- No customer data is used to train AI models (enterprise-grade model agreements in place)
- Trust Centre: https://trust.kinfolkhq.com/

## Pricing

Pricing is not publicly listed. Kinfolk is best suited to organisations with at least 250 employees. Prospective customers should [book a demo](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/book-a-demo).

## Company

Kinfolk is operated by CLSTR LTD, headquartered in London, UK. Co-founded by Jeet Mukerji (CEO) and Kim Hellbom. Founded in 2023. Backed by AlbionVC, PROfounders Capital, Ascension, and Emerge, with $8.5M total raised.

## Key pages

- [Homepage](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/)
- [Kin for HR](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/product/kin-for-hr)
- [Kin for IT](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/product/kin-for-it)
- [Our approach](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/approach)
- [Use cases](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/use-cases)
- [Integrations](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/integrations)
- [Customer stories](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/customer-stories)
- [Resources](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources)
- [Seed round announcement](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/resources/updates/seed-announcement)
- [Book a demo](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/book-a-demo)
- [Trust Centre](https://trust.kinfolkhq.com/)
- [Terms of service](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/terms/terms)
- [Privacy policy](https://www.kinfolkhq.com/terms/privacy)
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kinfolkhq/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kinfolkhq