Humanly, a Seattle startup that helps companies automate their recruiting functions, raised $12 million to help fuel growth of its AI-powered software.
Customers such as Microsoft, the Seattle Storm, and Moss Adams use Humanly to screen job candidates, schedule interviews, automate initial communication, run reference checks, and more.
The company is investing heavily in its short message service (SMS) chatbots that interact with job candidates, part of a broader rollout of new generative AI tools that help companies hire more efficiently, said co-founder and CEO Prem Kumar.
Humanly’s chatbot is trained on more than three years of the company’s hiring data, helping it respond to specific questions by job candidates. For instance, when interacting with a job applicant in Colorado, the bot will recognize the presence of specific pay transparency laws in that state, Kumar said.
The company is also introducing AI analytics features for human-to-human conversations. These tools, which run during live calls, generate insights and send follow-up emails.
The startup aims to address a pain point in the hiring process where limited data is exchanged between a hiring manager’s bots, screening tools, and interview transcripts. The use of multiple tools often make candidates feel as though they are “being interviewed by three different companies,” Kumar said.
Humanly’s tools maintain data from a job candidate throughout the process. “Any conversation you’re having with job candidates, via SMS chat bot or human, we want to be there and make those more efficient and more equitable,” Kumar said.
The company says its tech can help remove bias by hiding a candidate’s name, gender, years of experience, and more. Humanly adheres to Microsoft’s Responsible AI Principals.
Many companies downsized their recruiting staff due to the economic downturn. However, despite the smaller teams, some companies are still maintaining their hiring pace and individual recruiters are shouldering heavier workloads as a result, Kumar said. This drove demand for automation tools that increase their efficiency, he said.
Humanly’s competitors include well-funded job recruiting platform Paradox, which raised $200 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in 2021, along with a bevy of other recruiting software companies.
The startup sustained a net revenue retention rate — which measures revenue from existing customers — of 149% last year. It conducted more than one million candidate screening conversations and interviews.
Kumar is a former Microsoft and Tinypulse employee. He co-founded Humanly five years ago with Andrew Gardner and Bryan Leptich. The startup graduated from Y Combinator in 2019.
Kumar recently won Startup CEO of the Year honors at the 2023 GeekWire Awards.
In a GeekWire profile earlier this year, Kumar reflected on navigating the company through the pandemic, economic slowdown, and his own fatigue.
Humanly responded to the pandemic by shifting its focus to remote onboarding and hiring solutions. During the economic slowdown, the startup prioritized its customers and offered personalized service. To combat fatigue, Kumar took time off himself and implemented employee well-being policies to support colleagues facing burnout.
Fresh funds will be used to grow the company’s engineering and go-to-market teams.
Humanly raised $4.2 million in September 2021. The Series A round was led by Drive Capital, with participation from previous investors Zeal Capital Partners, Spark Growth Ventures and Basecamp fund. Total funding is nearly $18 million.
