Our story

The scientific spark

In the beginning, there was a simple but profound question: Why is career and career planning so difficult for many people and is often characterized by uncertainty? Our co-founder Florian Dyballa dealt intensively with this question during his thesis on business psychology at the end of 2017. The insight was sobering: Traditional application processes, which primarily rely on CVs and cover letters, often fail to recognize a person's actual potential. In addition, many people are often unaware of their own strengths, and access to professional potential analysis is usually cumbersome and expensive.

The birth of an idea

Together with Dr. Boas Bamberger, this research resulted in the core of Aivy: a digital solution that enables objective and fair aptitude diagnostics through game-based, psychologically valid procedures. The name Aivy became an expression of our mission: AI (Artificial intelligence) + V (vocation/vocation) + Y (You/You). Find your calling — with intelligent technology. In 2018, David Biller joined the team to turn the technical vision into reality.

From concept to prototype

An idea is only as good as its implementation. With academic support from Prof. Hannes Rothe and Profund Innovation, the Innovation Service at Freie Universität Berlin, the plans took shape.

First milestones and validation

A decisive step was receiving the “Berlin Startup Scholarship”, which enabled us to develop a first prototype (MVP). The results exceeded our expectations:

• Less effort, more insight: Participants needed 80% less time to complete the tests.
• High motivation and preference: 9 out of 10 users found the playful assessments significantly more appealing than traditional test formats

The positive feedback was the decisive catalyst. In 2019, our journey continued to gain momentum, both in terms of personnel and strategy: With Arbnor Raci, we gained another co-founder on board. In parallel, Handelsblatt recognized us as the best university spin-off (“Future Intelligence”), and we received European recognition with the European Youth Award. The culmination of this successful year was the approval of the renowned EXIST start-up grant from the Federal Ministry of Economics, which paved the way for market entry.

Founding and growth in turbulent times

At the beginning of 2020, the idea became a company: Aivy GmbH was officially founded. The founding shareholders were Florian Dyballa, Dr. Boas Bamberger, David Biller and Arbnor Raci.

Courage is rewarded

A decisive step was receiving the “Berlin Startup Scholarship”, which enabled us to develop a first prototype (MVP). In the midst of the global uncertainty of the pandemic, we obtained pre-seed financing of 500,000€ from the Companisto business angel network. This vote of trust was the basis for our entry into the market. Shortly after, we were able to win Fresenius SE as our first DAX company as a customer and expand our solution from an app for potential analysis to a comprehensive diagnostics platform for the entire talent lifecycle.
The market honored our innovative approach: We were awarded the HR Award as”Newcomer of the Year 2020” honored and listed as one of Germany's top 50 startups.

Scaling, Market Penetration, and Team Evolution

Growth is more than just a key figure — it is the continuous development of team, technology and market presence. Following the departure of Dr. Boas Bamberger at the end of 2021, our management team was significantly strengthened. With first-time employees Jasmine Aslan and Alexandra Kammer (until early 2025) as “later-stage founders,” we sharpened our scientific excellence and commercial strategy. The role of Arbnor Raci has also evolved: After significantly building up the company as a founding partner by 2024, he continues to contribute his expertise as a valuable part of our team today.

The breakthrough into the mass market

Seed financing of 1 million euros, again led by Companisto and the Berlin Angel Fund, gave us the necessary boost for the next phase in 2022. The appearance on the TV show “Die Höhle der Löwen” in 2022 provided the perfect stage to present our mission to an audience of millions. The enormous public interest confirmed to us that fair and objective personnel selection is not a niche issue, but a social need.
We used this momentum to consistently push ahead with our vision:

• We scaled to over 100 corporate customers — from agile startups to international corporations — and have since enabled more than 750,000 talent assessments.
• Our solution successfully proved its validity and flexibility in a wide range of industries, from IT to retail to industry.
• Numerous awards consolidated our reputation as an innovative leader, including the prestigious HR Innovation Award from the Federal Association for Employer Branding, Personnel Marketing and Recruiting as well as the future of Personal Europe.

Today, Aivy is led by Florian Dyballa (management), David Biller (technology) and Jasmine Aslan (science). A strong scientific advisory board continuously ensures the quality and validity of our processes.

Our vision for the future of recruiting

What began as scientific work is now an established partner for modern talent assessments. The fact that we were listed by Sifted (Financial Times) as one of Europe's fastest-growing companies for 2025 is both an incentive and confirmation for us.

Our philosophy: Independence and Responsibility

We deliberately develop our core technology, from psychometric research to algorithms to software, “in-house”. This independence guarantees our scientific integrity and ensures that our solution remains free of charge for applicants.

The rapid development of AI opens up fascinating opportunities to make the working world fairer and more human. As a team, we feel committed to using this technology responsibly to find the perfect fit between person and job. Our story has only just begun.