SAP to Acquire SmartRecruiters to Strengthen HCM Suite
SAP (NYSE: SAP) has announced its agreement to acquire SmartRecruiters, a global leader in talent acquisition (TA) software. SmartRecruiters’ expertise in high-volume recruiting, automation, and AI-driven candidate engagement will become a valuable addition to the SAP SuccessFactors human capital management (HCM) suite. With this move, SAP aims to help customers attract and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive job market.
Enhancing Talent Acquisition and Candidate Experience
SmartRecruiters brings user-friendly interfaces and seamless workflows that will complement SAP’s robust HR tools. As a result, businesses will benefit from improved hiring decisions, shorter time-to-hire, and a more engaging candidate experience. Furthermore, embedded analytics and AI-powered recommendations from both platforms will provide deeper insights into talent pools, workforce planning, and bottlenecks in recruitment.
Muhammad Alam, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, SAP Product & Engineering, emphasized, “Hiring the right people is not just an HR priority – it’s a business priority. With this planned acquisition, we will help our customers attract and hire the best talent so they can advance their talent acquisition agendas with speed and agility, while lowering their total cost of ownership.” He also noted that customers will gain the ability to manage the entire candidate lifecycle — from sourcing and interviewing to onboarding — within a single system.
Future of Hiring with SAP and SmartRecruiters
The acquisition will deliver AI-enabled recruiting and hiring capabilities, making applicant tracking and screening more efficient. Importantly, data-driven hiring insights will flow directly into SAP’s HCM tools, ensuring harmonized data, compliance, and seamless operations. At the same time, SmartRecruiters’ SaaS solutions will remain available as a standalone offering for the foreseeable future.
Rebecca Carr, CEO of SmartRecruiters, shared her enthusiasm: “SmartRecruiters’ mission has always been to make hiring easy. Joining forces with SAP presents a tremendous opportunity for enterprises worldwide to benefit from our industry leading approach to talent acquisition. I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity this planned acquisition presents for our customers, partners and employees as we build the future of hiring together.”
Currently, SmartRecruiters supports over 4,000 organizations worldwide with end-to-end hiring workflows. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed. J.P. Morgan acted as exclusive financial advisor to SmartRecruiters.
