Hull’s HR Guru raises £100k to launch AI employee handbook
This article covers the HR Guru, a Hull-based HR consultancy, which has secured a £100k loan from NPIF II managed by Mercia Debt Finance to develop Hey Guru, a digital employee handbook platform. The product aims to centralise policies, push automated legislative updates and provide an AI chat function to simplify onboarding and policy management for small and medium-sized businesses.
A Hull-based HR consultancy, the HR Guru, is building a digital employee handbook platform to simplify onboarding and policy management for small and medium businesses. The product, called Hey Guru, aims to centralise policies, push automated legislative updates and add an AI chat function to help staff find the right rules quickly — a response to growing demand for accessible HR support among companies without in-house teams.
Why it matters
HR administration is a persistent overhead for many smaller firms. Keeping handbooks current with changing employment law is time consuming and costly, and poor access to policies can create confusion for employees and managers.
A digital handbook that automates updates and gives staff an easy way to query policies could reduce administrative burden, speed induction and improve compliance for businesses that rely on external HR support.
Inside the product
Hey Guru is positioned as a hosted employee handbook that will unify a company’s policies and procedures in one place. Key features the HR Guru plans to ship include automatic updates to reflect legislative changes and an AI-powered chat function that staff can use to check which policies apply to a given situation.
The funding announced will be used to pay for software development and to expand the consultancy business to support a wider customer base.
Founder perspective
The HR Guru was founded in 2023 by Alison Lambert and Alan Turner. Alison brings more than 25 years of HR experience, having held senior roles at Smith & Nephew, Drax, Centrica and Giacom. Alan is a former operations manager at British Steel. The business is based in Hessle and currently supports more than 60 businesses.
In the announcement, Alan Turner, Operations Manager of the HR Guru, said:
An employee handbook enables businesses to set out the policies, procedures and standards of behaviour they expect, to ensure clarity and avoid misunderstandings. However keeping handbooks up to date is costly and time consuming. We spotted a gap in the market for a tool that could streamline the process and make it easier for staff and senior management to find the information they require. We’ve already had strong interest and look forward to the launch early next year.
The company expects the development work to create two new jobs as it shifts from bespoke handbook creation to a product-led model. Craig Ingram of Three Crowns Finance provided fundraising advice to the HR Guru during the process.
Who’s backing the round
The HR Guru has secured a £100,000 loan from NPIF II – Mercia Debt Finance. The facility is managed by Mercia Debt and forms part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.
In the announcement, Rebecca Pickering of Mercia Debt added:
With the complexity of employment law and the focus on wellbeing and diversity, demand for HR advice has increased. Specialists like the HR Guru play a key role in supporting smaller firms that lack in-house expertise. The funding will enable Alison and Alan to build their consultancy business with two new team members and target a wider market with the launch of this innovative HR tool.
In the announcement, Lizzy Upton, senior investment manager at British Business Bank, said:
The HR Guru is a great example of a business innovating to modernise traditional processes and drive improved efficiencies for its clients. NPIF II was established to support ambitious Northern businesses like this, helping with job creation and boosting our regional economy. It’s been great to be part of the business’s growth journey, and I look forward to seeing what’s next for them.
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) is a £660m programme covering the North of England. It provides loans from £25,000 to £2m and equity investments up to £5m to support new and growing businesses across the region.
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The bigger picture
The HR Guru’s move reflects two broader trends in the UK market: the digitisation of traditional back-office functions and the growing use of AI to deliver on-demand guidance for non-specialist staff. For small firms outside major cities, regional funding vehicles such as NPIF II can be an important source of non-dilutive capital to finance product development and job creation.
If Hey Guru proves effective at reducing compliance overheads and making policies more accessible, it could become a useful tool for the many UK businesses that still rely on external HR advisers rather than in-house teams. The loan and accompanying advisory support underline the role of regional finance programmes in helping such companies commercialise simple, operational innovations.
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