Ciphr partners with AI coaching platform

Ciphr has acquired a stake in MyTeamBuilder, a UK-based software startup that specialises in personalised AI-powered coaching for businesses.

The investment follows a string of acquisitions for the ECI-backed HR tech group in the last few years, as it continues to strengthen its customer proposition. Over 1,400 organisations globally use and rely on Ciphr’s integrated HR, payroll, benefits, eLearning, and recruitment software and services. Now they can also benefit from AI coaching to help amplify their team’s productivity and performance.

Founded in 2023 by organisational psychologist Bill McAneny, MyTeamBuilder is an innovative AI coaching tool, backed by practical psychology, for all employees, not just executives. It was created to help businesses improve team cohesiveness, and support employee engagement and retention, by facilitating better understanding, communication and collaboration between team members.

Many HR leaders see providing regular training and upskilling as both a top priority and key challenge in the year ahead, according to a recent Ciphr survey. MyTeamBuilder’s AI coaching, as part of a wider L&D offering, enables employers to meet employees’ varying needs – democratising access to consistent training that can achieve lasting outcomes – while controlling costs (it uses a scalable, subscription-based model).

For individual users, MyTeamBuilder is their personal AI coach – providing ‘always on’, 24/7 data-driven coaching and resources that can support their personal and professional growth. All its insights, recommendations and reminders are personalised and confidential.

Managers get those benefits too, but they also gain in-depth, real-time insights and actionable advice about the different personality types in their team – everyone’s innate preferences, motivations, and strengths. This psychometric knowledge is particularly beneficial for new managers or those with growing teams. It can help them to adapt their management style and behaviour to suit the unique needs of team members. And enable them to provide more effective and empathetic support, especially when tricky workplace moments may arise.

Thanks to advanced machine learning, MyTeamBuilder grows more insightful with each coaching interaction. Simply put, the more people use their personal AI advisor, the more the system learns and the more useful it becomes to them.

Managers around the world are already using MyTeamBuilder to improve their team's dynamics, applying its insights and guidance to help them:
• Better manage individual and team interactions
• Make informed decisions about task allocation, or team objective settings, based on complementary or collective strengths
• Provide feedback that resonates with individuals
• Pre-empt potential personality clashes or conflicts, and offer corrective actions
• Empower their teams with tailored development strategies and continuous learning

The platform also includes live mood tracking and trending topic analysis, giving HR teams access to real-time organisational sentiment without the need for surveys. Weekly organisational insights provide further anonymised details on mood shifts, coaching activity, personality engagement, and team usage.

The strategic growth investment from Ciphr will help MyTeamBuilder to further develop its AI and machine learning technology and bring the platform to a wider HR audience. Ciphr’s CEO Sion Lewis and CFO Ray Berry have joined the board as part of the deal.

Sion Lewis, CEO of Ciphr, says: “AI – done well – is an enabler. It can help surface invaluable workforce insights that can inform data-driven decision-making and, importantly, help organisations find better ways of working together. And that’s at the heart of everything we do at Ciphr – empowering organisations and their people with the tools they need to grow and succeed.

“We all have unique personalities and strengths that we bring to a role. The most successful organisations recognise the importance of leveraging that value – and playing to those strengths. MyTeamBuilder is a fantastic tool. It helps managers to better support their people, drive collaboration, and help them to do their best work.

“This is an exciting investment for Ciphr, and we’re looking forward to working with Bill and his team to bring the benefits of their innovative AI-coaching solution to even more organisations.”

Bill McAneny, founder of MyTeamBuilder, says: “With MyTeamBuilder, we think we have developed something truly groundbreaking. Traditional coaching can be episodic and cost prohibitive. But our AI tool is always there. It’s a coach for everyone, that can help people develop in their role and work better together. It helps organisations bring out the best in their people.

“Ciphr is the perfect partner to take this out into the market and the right organisation to help MyTeamBuilder to grow. We’re really excited about this opportunity to help organisations change how their employees, managers and teams are supported in the workplace.”

A special Ciphr webinar showcasing MyTeamBuilder, featuring the company's CEO Bill McAneny and CTO Lee Green, ran on 11 November. The recording is available to watch on demand at www.ciphr.com/webinars/ai-in-psychology.

To request a demo, please visit www.ciphr.com/myteambuilder.

Ciphr has also announced the launch of its new AI-powered review form summariser, which is part of Ciphr HR’s talent management functionality. This time-saving tool analyses historic performance reviews and 1-to-1 discussions that are already recorded in the system. It then generates suggested, editable responses based on overall performance and achievements (or setbacks) rather than just recent events. This streamlines the process for employees and managers and helps to mitigate the risk of recency bias. Other market-guided AI features coming in 2026 include chatbots for HR admin users and universal search to help employees to self-serve.

Ciphr is the go-to HR software and solutions partner for medium and large organisations in the UK. Its integrated HR, payroll, benefits, learning and recruitment software, services and content provide invaluable insights to HR teams to help inform their people strategy and grow and develop their organisations. Based in Reading, Ciphr is on a mission to amplify the voice and value of HR through intelligent people data solutions that help HR be heard – in the boardroom and across the business.

More than 1,400 organisations use people management solutions from Ciphr, including Bensons for Beds, Bunzl, Haygrove, Crisis UK, Action Against Hunger, Soho Theatre Company, Bluelight Commercial, Amaze Hotels, Coople, Eversheds Sutherland, Taylor Wessing, Prudential, Barnardo's, Greater London Authority, the Church of England, Newcastle University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, the Irish Universities Association, Evri, Michelin, INEOS, Shutterstock, Perfetti Van Melle, Allpay, Covéa Insurance, and Jonas.

For more information, please visit www.ciphr.com.

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Media enquiries:
Emma-Louise Jones, digital PR manager at Ciphr
e: ejones@ciphr.com

Chris Boddice, chief marketing officer at Ciphr
e: cboddice@ciphr.com
Website: www.ciphr.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ciphr

About Ciphr
Ciphr is the go-to HR software and solutions partner for medium and large organisations in the UK. Its integrated HR, payroll, benefits and rewards, learning and recruitment software, services and content provide invaluable insights to HR teams to inform their people strategy and grow and develop their organisations. Ciphr is on a mission to amplify the voice and value of HR through intelligent people data solutions that help HR be heard – in the boardroom and across the business.

The Ciphr Group is a privately held company backed by ECI Partners and headquartered in Reading. Over 230 employees work across the group, which includes Ciphr and Avantus, as well as previous acquisition Marshall E-Learning (now known as Ciphr eLearning).

About MyTeamBuilder
MyTeamBuilder is a new coaching system that blends psychological insight with AI-driven personalisation. It gives every team member and manager access to their own AI coach (Bilee) – delivering private, personalised coaching 24/7. It starts with a simple assessment. From there, each person gets a unique personality profile and anytime access to tailored guidance. Built on psychology and real team data, MyTeamBuilder helps every manager and team member grow, communicate better and perform at their best.