Riviera Partners acquires AI talent firm Lateral Labs
The acquisition pairs Riviera's executive search platform with an AI-native firm that embeds with startups such as Cursor and ElevenLabs, enabling hiring across the full AI company lifecycle.
Takeaways
- Lateral Labs is a recruiting firm for AI and ML talent.
- Riviera Partners is acquiring Lateral Labs.
- The business serves AI startups.
Lateral Labs, a recruiting firm that embeds with high-growth AI startups to fill machine learning and research positions, has been acquired by Riviera Partners.
The firm serves AI startups including Cursor, ElevenLabs, Runway, Scale AI, and Luma Labs, acting as an extension of their technical hiring teams.
Founded in 2024 by Rob Infantino, a former recruiter at OpenAI and Amazon Web Services, Lateral Labs operates at the center of the AI talent market.
“Our research shows as few as two percent of companies are organizationally ready to execute with AI, and the gap almost always comes down to talent,” said Kyle Langworthy, Partner and Head of AI, ML & Data Practice at Riviera Partners.
The acquisition extends Riviera’s ability to serve AI companies from seed-stage technical hires through IPO leadership searches.
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