Fika Jobs raises $4M to build a video-first hiring platform where AI agents interview candidates

Stockholm-based startup Fika Jobs is making headlines in the HR tech world, announcing a significant pre-seed funding round of $4 million. This investment is set to fuel the development of its innovative video-first hiring platform, which promises to redefine how companies find talent and how job seekers present themselves. The platform combines advanced AI interview agents with dynamic, short-form video profiles, creating a hiring experience that feels like a blend of LinkedIn's professional networking and TikTok's engaging content style.

The funding round was led by Luminar Ventures, a prominent investor in early-stage companies, and saw participation from a diverse group of over 20 venture capital and angel investors. Notably, this includes Alliance VC and Nordic entrepreneurs Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconi, who are well-known as the co-founders of King, the gaming company behind the global phenomenon Candy Crush. This strong backing highlights growing investor confidence in AI-driven solutions that address long-standing inefficiencies in the recruitment industry.

Rethinking Recruitment with AI and Video

Fika Jobs was founded by brothers Jakob Dubois (CEO) and Alexander Dubois (CTO), who identified a critical gap in traditional hiring processes. They observed that conventional resumes often fail to capture a candidate's true potential, personality, and communication skills. The company name itself, "Fika," is inspired by the Swedish tradition of taking a break for coffee and conversation, emphasizing the belief that meaningful professional connections often start with genuine human interaction rather than just paperwork.

The core vision behind Fika Jobs is to move beyond static CVs and cover letters, which can often be filtered out by automated systems before a candidate even gets a chance to truly showcase their strengths. Instead, Fika Jobs offers a candidate-centric platform where individuals can create a rich, video-based profile that speaks volumes more than text alone. This approach aims to provide employers with deeper insights into candidates' motivations, soft skills, and cultural fit from the outset.

How Fika Jobs' AI-Powered Platform Works

The platform's workflow for job seekers is designed to be streamlined and engaging. It begins with candidates linking their LinkedIn profile to the Fika Jobs platform. From there, an AI powered by Google's Gemini models analyzes the candidate's experience and generates a set of personalized interview questions.

Candidates then participate in a roughly 10-minute video interview conducted by an AI agent. This isn't just a static recording; the conversational AI adapts its questioning based on the candidate's responses, making the interaction dynamic and personalized. Once the interview is complete, the system automatically processes the responses, extracting key moments and editing them into short video clips. These clips form a comprehensive video profile that highlights the candidate's skills, experience, ambitions, and values.

A significant advantage for job seekers is that once their profile is published, they don't need to repeatedly apply for every new vacancy. Instead, their live video profile can be matched with relevant current and future opportunities, making the job search process more efficient and less tedious.

Benefits for Employers and Fairer Hiring

For employers, Fika Jobs offers a compelling solution to common recruitment challenges. The platform provides access to a pool of pre-interviewed candidates, complete with video profiles that offer insights beyond what a traditional resume can convey. This can significantly reduce the time and effort spent on initial screening, allowing hiring managers to quickly identify candidates who are a strong fit both in terms of skills and personality.

A key feature designed to promote fairer hiring practices is the platform's ability to anonymize certain attributes during the matching process, such as age, gender, and ethnicity. This helps mitigate unconscious bias, ensuring that candidates are evaluated primarily on their qualifications and how they present themselves in the interview, rather than demographic factors.

In terms of pricing, Fika Jobs employs a "pay-per-hire" model for companies. Employers pay nothing upfront, but Fika Jobs takes a 10% cut of a candidate's first-year salary upon a successful hire. This is positioned as a more cost-effective alternative to traditional recruitment agencies and headhunters, who often charge placement fees ranging from 20% to 30%. For job seekers, the platform remains entirely free to use.

Market Context and Future Plans

The pre-seed funding comes at a time when the recruitment technology market is seeing increased interest in AI applications. While existing players like HireVue have pioneered video interviewing with AI assessment, Fika Jobs aims to differentiate itself by being more candidate-centric and focusing on real-time conversational AI rather than just asynchronous video or keyword matching.

Fika Jobs has already seen promising results during an early testing phase in 2025, where more than 50 companies utilized the platform. This early adoption attracted thousands of candidates and led to several successful hires, demonstrating the platform's potential impact. With the new capital, the company plans to further develop its platform, expand its team, and prepare for a broader market launch later this year, in autumn 2026.

The investment in Fika Jobs also reflects a broader trend in venture capital, with increasing flows into AI-enhanced recruitment solutions. This signals a market shift towards greater automation and personalization in hiring, driven by the demands of a growing gig economy and tech-savvy candidates. As regulatory scrutiny around algorithmic hiring decisions, particularly concerning bias and transparency, continues to intensify, platforms like Fika Jobs will need to navigate these challenges carefully, ensuring their AI models are fair and accountable.

The founders' personal experiences with recruitment frustrations, where talented individuals were nearly overlooked due to uninspiring resumes, underscore the human element they aim to bring back into the process through technology. By allowing candidates to express their "grit, drive, and ambition" through video, Fika Jobs seeks to create a more transparent and engaging hiring journey for everyone involved.

Industry Implications and the Road Ahead

Fika Jobs' entry into the market with its substantial funding could have significant implications for the future of hiring. Its video-first, AI-driven approach challenges the status quo, pushing traditional recruitment methods towards more dynamic and personality-focused assessments. This could lead to a broader adoption of similar technologies, especially as companies look for more efficient ways to identify cultural fit and communication skills early in the process.

The platform's ability to integrate with existing applicant tracking systems (ATS) and human resources platforms will be crucial for its widespread adoption and distribution reach. Ultimately, Fika Jobs' success will depend not just on the speed it brings to hiring, but on its demonstrated ability to improve the quality of hires and create more equitable opportunities for job seekers. This $4 million pre-seed round is a clear indicator of investor confidence in the commercial viability of recruitment AI, positioning Fika Jobs as a company to watch in the evolving landscape of HR technology.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Fika Jobs and what problem does it solve?

Fika Jobs is a Stockholm-based startup building a video-first hiring platform that uses AI agents to interview candidates and create short video profiles. It aims to solve the inefficiencies of traditional hiring by allowing candidates to showcase their personality and communication skills beyond a static resume, making the process more engaging and transparent.

How does the AI interview process work for job seekers?

Job seekers connect their LinkedIn profile to Fika Jobs, where an AI (powered by Google Gemini models) generates personalized interview questions. They then complete a roughly 10-minute video interview with the AI agent, and the system automatically creates a video profile with key clips highlighting their attributes.

What is the pricing model for Fika Jobs?

Fika Jobs is free for job seekers. For employers, the platform operates on a "pay-per-hire" model, where companies pay 10% of a successfully placed candidate's first-year salary. This is presented as a more affordable option compared to traditional recruitment agency fees.

When will Fika Jobs be widely available?

Fika Jobs plans for a broader market launch later in 2026, specifically in the autumn. The company has already conducted early testing with over 50 companies in 2025, which resulted in successful hires.