The AI-powered recruitment platform Kiku has raised €4 million in seed funding. The new funding, which came just four months after closing the angel round, will be used to accelerate product development, expand the team, launch in key European markets, and build a frontline-focused brand that truly resonates with candidates and hiring teams.
Founded by Eric André (CEO) and Rasmus Andersen (CTO), both seasoned product and engineering leaders, Kiku was inspired by Eric’s time at Voi, where he scaled the business from 0 to 200 people across the Nordics, hiring hundreds of frontline workers yearly. Kiku is redefining what it means to hire at scale, not just automating, but actually enabling better outcomes for both companies and candidates.
Most hiring tools are built for corporate environments, not for today’s mobile-first, often deskless workforce. In a rapidly changing market where Gen Z expects more than outdated forms and resume uploads, bots flood application systems, and companies compete globally for frontline talent speaking diverse languages, traditional hiring platforms fall short.
Kiku addresses this gap with a mobile-first, conversational interface, where candidates can apply 24/7 via a simple voice or chat conversation with the company’s purpose-built AI agent. It adapts dynamically to different languages and interview formats, ensuring companies can connect with the best candidates: anytime, anywhere.
There are no forms or pre-recorded videos, just a natural, two-way conversation where candidates can ask questions and move forward instantly if there’s a mutual fit. Every applicant is assessed solely on merit, free from bias related to gender, name, age, or ethnicity.
Kiku brings automation to every stage of the recruitment process, from sourcing and screening to interviews and reference checks, allowing companies to fill roles in days, not weeks.
At the heart of the platform is Kiku’s conversational AI, “Sara,” which conducts thousands of structured interviews each week. Candidates get a consistent, always-on, mobile-first experience in any language.
Eric André, co-founder and CEO of Kiku, shared:
With Kiku, scale and quality are no longer mutually exclusive. We leverage AI to prove that candidates can be treated fairly while companies drastically improve their ways of working. Kiku turns scale into an advantage. It makes fast, high-quality hiring possible, without increasing recruiter headcount or sacrificing candidate experience.
With early adoption in the Nordics, UK, and US, Kiku is helping companies streamline their interview processes, reducing time-to-hire per role. Candidate satisfaction remains high at 93 per cent, while hiring teams report faster decisions, better engagement, and stronger talent pipelines.
The round was led by Cherry Ventures, with additional backing from Yellow, the VC fund co-founded by Glovo founder Oscar Pierre, and notable angel investors such as Fredrik Hjelm and Felipe Navio.
Sophia Bendz, Partner at Cherry Ventures, commented:
Kiku is solving one of the most painful and under-invested challenges in hiring. Eric and Rasmus bring deep operational experience, product insight, and urgency to this problem. We believe Kiku will define the category for AI in frontline recruitment.
As AI transforms the future of work, Kiku helps companies stay ahead in an increasingly dynamic labour market. Built for scale and centred on people, Kiku cuts cost-per-hire by up to 80 per cent and speeds up time-to-fill, while offering a bias-free, multilingual, and mobile-native experience.
Whether hiring ten or ten thousand, Kiku ensures every candidate is seen, heard, and fairly evaluated. It integrates smoothly with existing ATS systems or functions as a powerful standalone solution. As workforce demands shift and AI adoption grows, Kiku enables companies to lead, not lag behind.
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