Hireable Places Second at the 2026 Linklaters × Grow Movement Women Seed Capital Pitch

Key takeaways

• Hireable was named the 2nd-place winner of the 2026 Linklaters × Grow Movement Women Seed Capital Pitch, receiving a £6,000 seed capital grant.
• Founded and led by Juliana Carisle Matias, Hireable was selected from 30 women-led businesses across the Philippines, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
• The venture progressed through a five-stage programme before finishing second at the live Grand Finale held on 9 July 2026.
• This is Hireable's second major recognition in eight months, following its Startup QC Cohort 4 grant in November 2025.
• The £6,000 grant will be deployed directly into product development toward Hireable's 2027 launch.
• Hireable's pre-launch pipeline already includes more than 1,000 Filipino professionals and 500 US business prospects.

The recognition, at a glance

Hireable earned a 2nd place finish and a £6,000 seed capital grant, chosen as one of 6 finalists from 30 applicants across 4 countries: the Philippines, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

On November 14, 2025, Hireable had already secured a ₱1 million equity-free grant as a Startup QC Cohort 4 grantee. Eight months later, the Grow Movement result adds international recognition to that record, validating a simple conviction the team has worked toward quietly for years: that the future of work for Filipino professionals can be built on compatibility, structure, and fair access to global opportunity, not on cost arbitrage.

A live finale, a global panel, a second-place finish

On 9 July 2026, the 2026 Linklaters × Grow Movement Women Seed Capital Pitch (3rd Edition) held its Grand Finale over a live Zoom broadcast to more than 100 business leaders, coaches, and supporters drawn from Linklaters, Grow Movement, BCG, and their extended networks.

Six women-led ventures pitched. Six grants were awarded. Hireable placed second, receiving a £6,000 seed capital grant toward its 2027 launch.

The competition ran in partnership between Grow Movement and Linklaters' Social Impact arm, hosted by Grow Movement Executive Director and Co-founder Violet Busingye alongside Lucy Harrison from Linklaters. The programme is designed to identify and back women entrepreneurs from Asia and Africa building businesses with commercial rigour and social impact.

About the Linklaters × Grow Movement partnership

Grow Movement is an international social enterprise that pairs entrepreneurs in emerging economies with mentors and coaches worldwide, supporting business growth through skills, networks, and capital. Its Women Seed Capital Pitch is a flagship annual programme spotlighting outstanding women-led ventures.

Linklaters, the global law firm, delivers the partnership through its Social Impact division, which channels the firm's expertise into building capacity for social entrepreneurs across underserved regions.

Together, the two organisations have run the Seed Capital Pitch for three consecutive years, backing a growing cohort of women entrepreneurs across Africa and Asia.

The road to the Grand Finale

The path to the £6,000 grant was not a single pitch. It was a five-stage programme running from June through early July 2026.

The six finalists

Hireable pitched alongside five other extraordinary women-led ventures. Each represents a different country and a different lens on the same underlying question: how do we build businesses that create real economic opportunity while addressing real human needs?

Placing second in a field this strong is a recognition Hireable will not take lightly. The other five founders each brought years of dedicated work and genuine impact to the finale, and Hireable is proud to have shared the stage with them.

Hireable's pitch: the mission behind the numbers

Hireable's finale pitch opened with the same story that started the business. In 1999, when Juliana was a baby, her mother wrote a dream on a small piece of paper: "Even if we never have money, as long as my children are healthy, I am already happy." It was a dream about food on the table, stability, and being present for her children.

Juliana grew up learning how fragile that dream really was. Her father worked two jobs to make sure her mother never had to work. On exam days, Juliana did not always know if she would be allowed to sit for the test, because her mother sometimes had to ask the school for a promissory note. What her parents lacked was not effort, not values. It was access to stable, dignified work that fit family life.

That question became Hireable. Today, over 2.4 million Filipinos are unemployed and 7.4 million more are underemployed. Over 2 million are working overseas as OFWs and domestic helpers, sending $40 billion home each year. But leaving comes at a cost that never shows up on a spreadsheet: empty chairs at dinner tables and children raised by someone else.

Hireable's answer is a hiring platform where Filipino talent proves itself through a real, paid work trial, and when it works, that trial converts into a committed, ongoing role. Not a gig that ends without notice. Not a race to the lowest rate. A structured relationship, matched on work style, communication, and role expectations, and validated through the trial before either side commits.

The bigger vision reaches beyond one country. Over 1.5 million Filipinos already work remotely for global clients today. Millions more are ready. And the same choice, between work and family, faces households in India, across Asia, and in Africa. Hireable is built to reach them too. As Juliana closed the pitch: "No one should have to leave home to build a future."

Behind Hireable: Juliana Carisle Matias

Hireable is founded and led by Juliana Carisle Matias, a Filipina entrepreneur and marketing operator building at the intersection of technology, remote work, and Filipino talent. She works from Quezon City, Philippines.

Her career started in tech. Before founding her own company, she worked on brands including Monday.com, Zendesk, SAP, and Sophos, where she learned how to build the marketing infrastructure that scales category-defining B2B products.

In 2021, she brought that operating knowledge home and launched Carisle Media as a one-woman consultancy. What began with a single client has grown into a full-service agency of eight, having served more than 60 companies across 11 industries and 7 countries, including Hong Kong, Dubai, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. In 2026, Carisle Media specialised entirely in construction, doubling down on the industry where its marketing automation systems were producing the strongest results.

Hireable is where her personal story and her professional work converge. When Juliana began working with global clients from the Philippines, she saw firsthand what most Filipino professionals already know: the ceiling on Filipino talent has never been about capability. It has always been about who gets to see them. Hireable is the operating system Juliana wished had existed when she started, built to close that gap for the millions of Filipino professionals ready to compete on the world stage.

Her public work extends beyond the businesses she runs. Juliana's personal content has generated more than 25 million views and built a community of over 130,000 followers who trust her because she has done the work she talks about.

Founder profile: Juliana Carisle Matias, Founder & CEO of Hireable and Founder of Carisle Media.

→ Started her career in tech, working on brands including Monday.com, Zendesk, SAP, and Sophos. → Founded Carisle Media in 2021, now a team of 8, having served 60+ companies across 11 industries and 7 countries. → In 2026, specialised Carisle Media in marketing automation for construction companies. → 25M+ views and 130,000+ followers across social platforms. → 2026 Linklaters × Grow Movement Women Seed Capital Pitch: 2nd place, £6,000 grant. → Startup QC Cohort 4 Grantee (2025): ₱1 million equity-free grant from the Quezon City Government.

What the £6,000 grant enables

The £6,000 seed capital grant will be deployed directly into product development for launch. Specifically:

• Core platform build: trial workflow, applicant tracker, job posting, discovery and search.
• Trial engine and AI matching: work-trial workflow, AI matchmaking, KPI tracking.
• Payments, escrow, and KYC infrastructure.
• Compliance work under the Philippines' recently passed Freelance Workers Protection Act (HB 6718).
• Waitlist activation, converting the 1,000+ Filipino professionals and 500+ US business prospects already on the pre-launch list.

Hireable's platform enters closed beta in late 2026, with public launch and first paying customers scheduled for 2027. The £6,000 grant, together with the ₱1 million grant awarded by Quezon City's Startup QC Cohort 4 in November 2025, forms the funded backbone of that launch runway.

The bigger picture

Being named a Grow Movement finalist and placing second in the Linklaters partnership sits inside a longer story that Hireable is helping to write. Over 1.5 million Filipino professionals already work remotely for global clients. The Philippine BPO and outsourcing sector generates roughly $38.5 billion annually and holds around 15% of the global BPO market. And yet the platforms that mediate this work are still largely built around the wrong problem.

Hireable's ambition is straightforward. Build the platform where a Filipino professional can earn global income without leaving their family, where a US, UK, or Australian company can hire for fit without navigating a maze of incompatible providers, and where the system finally works for both sides.

The bottom line

To Violet Busingye and the Grow Movement team, especially Evelyne, Prossy, Seraina, and Emma. To Lucy Harrison and the Linklaters Social Impact team for hosting a programme that trained us as much as it recognised us. To BCG and every voter and coach in the room: thank you.

And to Hazel, Ashley, Shamayel, Rebecca, and Germaine: five founders we are honoured to have stood alongside. Your work is a reminder that women building for impact is not the exception. It is the future of the economy.

The grant is a milestone, not a finish line. It sharpens the runway toward a 2027 launch and reinforces a simple conviction: that Filipino talent deserves a hiring system built on capability and fit, not geography or price.

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How Hireable is building the future of remote work

Hireable is a compatibility-matched hiring platform connecting companies worldwide with Filipino professionals through structured work trials that convert into long-term roles. Every match is scored on work style, communication, and role expectations, then validated through a real trial period before the full commitment kicks in. Founded and led by Juliana Carisle Matias, Hireable is building the operating system for a borderless future of work. The platform launches in 2027. Learn more at hireable.ph.

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FAQ

What is the Linklaters × Grow Movement Women Seed Capital Pitch?

It is an annual programme run in partnership between the global law firm Linklaters, through its Social Impact division, and the social enterprise Grow Movement. The pitch identifies and backs women-led ventures across Asia and Africa with seed capital grants. 2026 was its third edition.

Where did Hireable place, and how much did it win?

Hireable placed second and received a £6,000 seed capital grant, one of six grants awarded at the live Grand Finale on 9 July 2026.

How was Hireable selected?

Hireable was nominated as one of 20 women entrepreneurs across Asia and Africa, then chosen as one of six finalists from 30 businesses across the Philippines, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. It progressed through a five-stage programme before the Grand Finale.

Who founded Hireable?

Hireable was founded and is led by Juliana Carisle Matias, founder of the marketing agency Carisle Media, based in Quezon City, Philippines.

What will Hireable do with the £6,000 grant?

The grant funds product development toward launch, including the core platform build, the trial engine and AI matching, payments and KYC infrastructure, compliance work under the Freelance Workers Protection Act (HB 6718), and waitlist activation.

When does Hireable launch?

Hireable enters closed beta in late 2026, with public launch and first paying customers scheduled for 2027. Its pre-launch pipeline already includes more than 1,000 Filipino professionals and 500 US business prospects.

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Hireable, the platform behind this publication, is preparing for its 2027 launch with compatibility-matched Philippine remote hiring and structured work trials built into the model. Waitlist members get early access. Click the "Join the waitlist" button above.