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

The recruitment process has long been criticized for its inefficiency and lack of transparency. Candidates spend hours writing applications and sending cover letters, then disappear into what often feels like a black box. Generative AI has made things even more difficult, with employers increasingly relying on AI-powered screening systems to sift through large amounts of submissions.

Stockholm-based startup Fika Jobs thinks there’s a better way. The company is building the first video recruiting platform that combines AI chat agents with short-form video profiles, creating something that feels like a cross between LinkedIn and TikTok. Instead of relying solely on resumes, candidates complete AI-powered interviews designed to showcase their personality and communication skills.

Fika Jobs announced on Tuesday a pre-seed round of $4 million, which will be used to further develop the platform, grow the team, and prepare for a wider launch later this year.

For job seekers, the process starts with connecting a LinkedIn profile. Fika’s AI reviews the candidate’s background and generates personalized interview questions. Candidates then complete a 10-minute video interview with an AI agent, currently powered by Google’s Gemini models.

After the interview, Fika automatically converts the answers into short video clips and organizes them into a profile. Instead of applying to every new role, candidates maintain a live profile that employers can access and revisit as new opportunities arise.

The idea came from founders and brothers Jakob Dubois (CEO) and Alexander Dubois (CTO) when they were building their previous startup.

“When we were building [social app] “Gaff, we spent a lot of time recruiting and almost passed on a candidate because his resume didn’t really stand out,” Jakob Dubois told TechCrunch. He’s exactly the type of person we wanted to hire.”

That experience convinced the founders that some factors employers care about are difficult to capture on paper.

Unlike many competitors (Alex, Maki, and Mercor, among others) that focus on helping recruiters source, screen, and match candidates effectively with AI, Fika builds a platform where candidates maintain initial video profiles and recruiters browse dozens of candidates who have been interviewed and screened by AI.

If successful, Fika Jobs can help employers assess communication skills and cultural fit early in the hiring process, complying with the standard process and review of applications. This approach may be especially useful for early career professionals and candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, whose strengths are not always apparent from resumes alone.

Of course, video profiles present a real risk of bias that deserves attention. When employers can see the race, age, gender, physical appearance, and pronunciation of a candidate before checking their qualifications, it opens the door to discrimination where the CV, for all its flaws, obscures you at least a little. There’s a reason some companies have moved to blind retesting.

The platform plans to open early access to candidates this week, with a wider public launch expected this fall. The company will initially focus on Sweden before expanding internationally. Fika currently has a small team but expects to have around ten employees by the end of the year.

More than 100 companies are on the waiting list, the founders said, although they declined to reveal which ones. Separately, they said more than 50 companies have tested the platform, including Plenty Labs, SICS.ai, Kognity, and Rebtel.

The forum is free for job seekers. Employers do not pay anything upfront, but Fika takes 10% of the candidate’s first year’s salary when successfully hired. (The company notes that this is lower than the 20% to 30% placement fees typically charged by traditional employers and headhunters.)

The round was led by Luminar Ventures, with participation from Alliance VC and King’s co-founders Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconi, the duo best known for creating the mobile game Candy Crush.