Riviera Partners, a global executive search firm specializing in technology leadership, announced the acquisition of Lateral Labs, a specialized recruiting firm serving top AI startups, on June 24, 2026, in San Francisco. The acquisition comes as companies remain challenged to meet the demand of organizational AI readiness, positioning Riviera Partners to offer executive and technical talent search from seed-stage startup through IPO. Lateral Labs partners with technical teams in AI, including Cursor, ElevenLabs, Runway, Scale AI and Luma Labs, using embedded, retained and contingent search models for machine learning and AI research roles. Lateral Labs was established in 2024 by Founder and CEO Rob Infantino, a veteran recruiter for leading AI labs including OpenAI and Amazon Web Services. Kyle Langworthy, Partner and Head of AI, ML & Data Practice at Riviera Partners, stated, “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.” Infantino added, “Together, Riviera Partners and Lateral Labs can support an AI company's hiring across its full lifecycle — from its first technical hire through IPO.”