SAP Plans to Acquire SmartRecruiters, Boosting AI-Powered Talent Acquisition Capabilities
SAP, a leading enterprise software company, has announced its intention to acquire SmartRecruiters, a leading provider of talent acquisition software. This acquisition is expected to significantly enhance SAP's Human Capital Management (HCM) suite by integrating SmartRecruiters’ strengths in AI-enabled talent acquisition, high-volume recruiting, and automation into SAP SuccessFactors.
The integration will offer customers enhanced recruiting and hiring capabilities, including more efficient applicant tracking and candidate screening. Data-driven hiring and recruitment analytics will flow directly into SAP's HCM tools, creating a single system of record for seamless operations.
The acquisition is designed to strengthen SAP's all-in-one HCM suite, providing customers with more powerful tools to attract and retain talent. Key expected benefits and improvements include:
- Stronger talent acquisition capabilities embedded within SAP’s all-in-one HCM platform, enabling organizations to manage the entire candidate lifecycle—from sourcing to onboarding—in a unified system.
- AI and analytics-driven decision-making enhancements through embedded analytics and AI recommendations that provide insights into talent pools, hiring bottlenecks, and recruitment outcomes, accelerating hiring and improving quality of hire.
- More efficient recruitment workflows with automation and seamless integration of applicant tracking and candidate screening data flowing directly into SAP’s HCM tools, reducing time-to-hire and improving recruiter and hiring manager experience.
- Maintaining SmartRecruiters as a standalone solution initially, ensuring that existing customers on both sides experience minimal disruption and enabling gradual, thoughtful integration of capabilities.
- Access to robust, widely-used SaaS recruiting technology trusted by global enterprises like Amazon and Visa, providing SAP customers a proven platform for managing large volumes of hiring needs in a compliance-conscious environment.
- Enabling strategic workforce planning with richer data on recruiting and talent pools, enhancing people intelligence for business decision-making.
According to Muhammad Alam, a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, SAP Product & Engineering, the planned acquisition of SmartRecruiters is aimed at helping customers attract and hire the best talent. Rebecca Carr, CEO of SmartRecruiters, expressed excitement about joining forces with SAP, stating that it presents a tremendous opportunity for enterprises worldwide to benefit from SmartRecruiters' industry-leading approach to talent acquisition.
J.P. Morgan served as the exclusive financial advisor to SmartRecruiters. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.
The acquisition of SmartRecruiters by SAP is aimed at strengthening its business operations by integrating advanced technology in talent acquisition, streamlining the candidate lifecycle from sourcing to onboarding within the HCM suite. This integration promises enhanced finance growth potential for SAP and its customers, as it will offer more efficient recruiting capabilities, data-driven hiring decisions, strategically planned workforce solutions, and access to a robust SaaS recruitment platform.
