Nestor
YC S18San Francisco, US · Founded 2018 · 20 employees · Hiring · 3 known investors
Nestor provides HR teams and managers with software to catalog, evaluate, and assign employees based on their skills, using AI to match workers to internal roles, projects, and upskilling opportunities aligned with business needs.
Also known as Emojer · Emojer (was Marionette Studio) · Marionette Studio
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S18)
Nestor was founded in 2018 by Bogdan Apostol and Raluca Apostol.
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Bogdan Apostolin𝕏Co-founder · CEOHe previously co-founded Marionette Studio and holds a Ph.D. in computer science with research cited by Intel and LG.
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Raluca Apostolin𝕏Co-Founder & Chief Product OfficerRaluca Apostol holds a Ph.D. in machine learning and serves as co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Nestor, where she oversees research and product development. She has over eight years of experience in team management and people development.
Investors · 3
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements- $2MseedDec 2022 · 2 sources
Eleven Ventures (lead)
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Competitors · 10
by search overlap
Deel700 shared keywordsDeel is a global HR platform that enables businesses to hire, onboard, and manage employees and contractors across borders. The platform handles payroll, compliance, and HR administration for companies managing international workforces.
Peoplebox.ai699 shared keywordsPeoplebox is an OKR, talent management, and people analytics platform that uses generative AI to help companies align strategy and retain employees. It integrates with work tools and provides strategy execution and people operations capabilities.
Performyard579 shared keywordsPerformYard is a performance management platform that combines performance reviews, goal tracking, continuous feedback, engagement surveys, and 1:1 meetings in one AI-assisted system. It is aimed at HR teams and organizations of varying sizes seeking to configure and run their performance review and employee development processes.
Leapsome572 shared keywordsLeapsome offers HR software that centralizes employee records — personal details, role history, compensation, documents, and job changes — into a single system for HR teams, replacing spreadsheets and paper files. Its platform connects HRIS and talent management with performance reviews, learning paths, and AI-driven analytics, including team-level "Resilience Signals" insights.
BetterUp529 shared keywordsBetterUp provides an AI-powered coaching and professional development platform that helps organizations support employee growth and wellbeing. The platform serves enterprises and their employees through behavioral science-backed coaching and talent management tools.
Factorial489 shared keywordsFactorial is an AI-powered business management platform that automates and centralizes administrative HR and people management tasks for companies. The platform serves over 16,000 businesses across 120+ countries, enabling organizations to focus on employee engagement and workplace culture.
Culture Amp482 shared keywordsCulture Amp builds a platform for employee surveys and feedback management that helps organizations improve workplace culture and employee experience. The company serves companies worldwide seeking to build more human-literate, profitable organizations through culture-first practices.
Quantum Workplace427 shared keywordsQuantum Workplace provides an all-in-one HR software platform that connects employee engagement, performance management, development, and recognition data in a single view for HR leaders, managers, and executives. It serves growing organizations seeking to surface talent insights, improve manager effectiveness, and reduce turnover.
ClearCompany.com423 shared keywordsClearCompany (ClearCo) offers a talent management platform that unifies hiring, onboarding, learning, and performance for HR and business leaders. It provides people analytics, AI features, and integrations to manage the full talent lifecycle in one connected system.
Betterworks419 shared keywordsBetterworks offers enterprise performance management and talent intelligence software that connects employee performance, skills, and potential data into a real-time view of the workforce. It uses AI to support decisions on growth, internal mobility, succession planning, and calibration for large organizations.
Companies competing with Nestor for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
In the news
People on the Move: Michael Nestor Joins GE HealthCare as Director of Government Funding & Strategic Partnerships | BioBuzzbiobuzz.io · Jul 2026Frequently asked questions
- What does Nestor do?
- Nestor provides HR teams and managers with software to catalog, evaluate, and assign employees based on their skills, using AI to match workers to internal roles, projects, and upskilling opportunities aligned with business needs.
- Who founded Nestor?
- Nestor was founded by Bogdan Apostol, Raluca Apostol in 2018.
- Who are Nestor's investors?
- Nestor's investors include Underline Ventures, Y Combinator, Eleven Ventures.
- Where is Nestor headquartered?
- Nestor is headquartered in San Francisco, US.