Huntsly won first place and R30,000 at Entelect's Tech Accelerator (Tech Acc) for 2025. The evidence-based hiring platform competed against 52 other projects to claim the top prize.
Liam Burks, an Intermediate Software Engineer at Entelect, created Huntsly to transform the traditional hiring process with an AI-powered assessment platform that helps companies make data-driven hiring decisions. The system uses proprietary cognitive and situational testing based on leading academic research in psychology and HR to identify top talent efficiently and without bias.
The platform addresses a critical business challenge: traditional hiring methods that rely on resumes and interviews can introduce inefficiency and unconscious bias. Huntsly's four-step process creates a model of best fit by analysing top performers, administers timed assessments to candidates, automatically screens results against benchmarks, and streamlines the interview funnel. With evidence-based hiring proven to improve profits by 21-30% and the average interview process taking 24 days, Huntsly offers companies a faster, fairer path to finding exceptional talent.
Burks reflected on his win: "Huntsly is a data-driven recruitment platform that uses research-validated psychometric assessments to predict job success, with the goal of enabling fairer, less biased hiring whilst helping companies efficiently identify top talent. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Tech Accelerator, and winning the competition is something I'm genuinely proud of after a year of building and iterating on the product. I'm also incredibly grateful to all of the Entelectuals who helped me improve the product by taking the assessments, giving me UI/UX feedback, and just generally being incredibly supportive of my efforts."
Burks plans to reinvest the prize money directly into infrastructure costs and targeted marketing efforts, with the aim of securing early-stage paying customers.
Other top contenders included:
Tidy Tides Co. (2nd place) - A fast-paced, cooperative underwater cleaning simulator where up to four players work as aquatic sanitation experts scrubbing whales clean of graffiti, barnacles, and grime using upgradeable tools in a race against time
Bright Eye (3rd place) - An intelligent self-adjusting camera tracking system designed for wildlife observation that uses YOLO-based object detection to automatically keep animals centered in frame as vehicles move
Additional notable projects showcased innovation across gaming, AI applications, and practical technology solutions
How Entelect’s Tech Accelerator Works
Tech Acc gives participants eight dedicated hours each month to work on their projects, supported by a budget for necessary hardware or tooling and mentorship from senior team members, including UX designers, business analysts, and solutions architects. The aim is to foster innovation and personal development whilst ensuring participants retain the intellectual property (IP) they create.
Hackathons provide teams with intensive, in-office days to accelerate progress, culminating in a year-end showcase. In a Shark Tank-style event, projects are judged on criteria like technical innovation, difficulty, year-long progress, presentation, and utility.
The entire company has the opportunity to vote for their favourite projects with 'Enteloot' – virtual tokens they can assign to projects they feel deserve them. Cash prizes are awarded to the top three teams.
This year saw exceptional engagement, with 53 projects (comprising 99 individuals) entering the programme. Out of these, 36 projects qualified for the finals on Judging Day (up from 29 in 2024), demonstrating that participants are engaging more consistently and continuously with the programme than ever before.
Andreas Nel, outgoing Tech Acc Committee Member, commented, "2025 was a big year for Tech Accelerator, with us kicking off our first global Launch Event in February across all our African and European offices. The quality, passion and growth of the participants this year has been exceptional, which is evident in the sheer breadth and depth they demonstrated in Game Development, Internet-of-Things Systems, AI-Augmented Development, Product Design and quality Software Engineering."
Estée Jacobs, Design Lead and incoming Tech Accelerator Committee Lead for 2026, added, "Tech Accelerator shows what's possible when curiosity, collaboration and technical craft are given space to thrive. 2025 brought strong ideas, impressive execution and a real willingness to experiment and learn. That's what makes Tech Acc such a powerful platform for growth. I'm excited to see Entelectuals continue to raise the bar next year, with the mindset that everything is possible."
