TLDR: Copenhagen-based Kiku, a company specializing in AI agents for high-volume frontline hiring, has successfully raised €4 million in a seed funding round. Led by Cherry Ventures, the investment will fuel product development and expansion into key European markets, leveraging Kiku’s AI agent ‘Sara’ to streamline recruitment processes and enhance candidate experience.
Kiku, a Copenhagen-based innovator in AI-powered recruitment solutions, has announced the successful closure of a €4 million seed funding round. The investment, led by early-stage venture capital firm Cherry Ventures, with additional contributions from Yellow and angel investors including Felipe Navío and Fredrik Hjelm, underscores strong confidence in Kiku’s mission to revolutionize high-volume frontline hiring. This funding follows an angel round closed just four months prior, highlighting rapid investor interest.
Founded in 2024 by seasoned product and engineering leaders Eric André (CEO) and Rasmus Andersen (CTO), Kiku addresses a significant gap in the global recruitment market. Traditional hiring tools often fall short for the mobile-first, often deskless workforce that constitutes over 80% of the global labor force in sectors like retail, logistics, sales, healthcare, and hospitality. These industries frequently grapple with high turnover rates (60-80% annually) and lengthy time-to-hire, often exceeding 40 days.
At the core of Kiku’s offering is its conversational AI agent, ‘Sara.’ This purpose-built AI provides a mobile-first, 24/7 application experience, allowing candidates to engage via simple voice or chat conversations. Sara dynamically adapts to different languages and interview formats, ensuring companies can connect with suitable candidates anytime, anywhere, without the need for outdated forms or pre-recorded videos. The platform is designed to assess applicants solely on merit, promoting bias-free evaluations regardless of gender, name, age, or ethnicity.
Kiku’s platform streamlines the entire recruitment process, from sourcing and screening to interviews and reference checks, enabling companies to fill roles in days, not weeks. Co-founder and CEO Eric André shared compelling statistics from Kiku’s operations across the Nordics, UK, and US, stating, ‘With our customers, we’re proving it works: 81% time saved for recruiters, 93% candidate satisfaction, and 75% faster time-to-hire.’
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The new capital will be strategically deployed to accelerate product development, expand the team, and facilitate Kiku’s launch into key European markets. Cherry Ventures expressed enthusiasm for Kiku’s potential, noting, ‘What excites us most is Kiku’s potential to become hiring infrastructure rather than just hiring software.’ The firm believes Kiku can expand beyond screening into sourcing, leveraging placement data to predict candidate interest and integrating deeper with payroll and onboarding systems to reduce time-to-productivity for placed candidates.
