Recruitment has long been a frustrating experience for job seekers and employers alike. Applicants invest significant time crafting resumes and cover letters, only to receive little or no feedback after submitting them. The rise of generative AI has added another layer of complexity, with companies deploying automated screening tools to manage the flood of incoming applications - often leaving candidates feeling even more invisible in the process.

A Stockholm-based startup called Fika Jobs is attempting to rethink this dynamic from the ground up. The company has developed a video-first hiring platform that blends AI-driven interview agents with short-form video profiles, drawing comparisons to a hybrid of LinkedIn and TikTok. Rather than depending entirely on written resumes, candidates go through AI-powered interviews that are designed to highlight their communication style and personality.

On Tuesday, Fika Jobs announced it has closed a $4 million pre-seed funding round. The capital will be directed toward continued platform development, expanding the company's workforce, and preparing for a broader public rollout later this year.

How the Platform Works

For candidates, the experience begins by linking a LinkedIn profile to the platform. Fika's AI then analyzes the applicant's professional background and generates a set of tailored interview questions. The candidate proceeds to complete a video interview with the AI agent - a session that takes roughly ten minutes - currently running on Google's Gemini language models.

Once the interview is complete, Fika automatically processes the responses and converts them into short video clips, which are then assembled into a candidate profile. Rather than submitting fresh applications for each new role, candidates maintain a persistent, living profile that employers can browse and return to whenever relevant positions open up. The model shifts the dynamic somewhat - instead of candidates chasing listings, employers come to them.

The Founding Story

The concept was born out of a personal experience shared by co-founders and brothers Jakob Dubois, who serves as CEO, and Alexander Dubois, who serves as CTO. The two were running a previous startup when they encountered a hiring situation that would eventually shape their next venture.

"When we were building Gaff, we spent a lot of time recruiting and almost passed on a candidate because his resume did not really stand out. We ended up speaking with him anyway, and within minutes, his grit, drive, and ambition became obvious. Exactly the kind of person we wanted to hire."

That moment crystallized a belief the brothers now build their company around: some of the qualities employers value most - determination, enthusiasm, interpersonal presence - are nearly impossible to convey through a written document alone.

A Different Approach Than Most AI Hiring Tools

The majority of AI-driven hiring platforms currently on the market, including competitors such as Alex, Maki, and Mercor, are built primarily to help employers streamline how they source, filter, and match candidates. Fika Jobs is taking a meaningfully different angle. Its platform is structured around candidates who build and maintain video-based profiles, while employers browse a pre-screened pool of individuals who have already completed AI-led evaluations.

If the model gains traction, it could give employers a way to assess soft skills and cultural compatibility much earlier in the hiring process, before a formal interview ever takes place. This could be particularly useful when evaluating early-career candidates or those who come from non-traditional professional backgrounds - people whose abilities and potential are not always reflected in a conventional resume.

Bias Concerns Worth Noting

The video-first format does, however, introduce some legitimate concerns around bias. When an employer can observe a candidate's physical appearance, perceived age, racial background, gender presentation, and accent before reviewing their qualifications, there is a real risk of discrimination entering the process. A written resume, for all its limitations, does at least provide a degree of separation from those visual and auditory cues. The movement toward blind resume screening at some organizations reflects a growing awareness of exactly this problem, and video profiles work in the opposite direction.

Fika Jobs has not publicly detailed what safeguards, if any, it plans to implement to address these concerns as the platform scales.

Launch Timeline and Market Focus

The platform is scheduled to open early access to candidates this week, with a full public launch anticipated for the fall. Fika Jobs will initially concentrate its efforts on the Swedish market before pursuing international expansion. The company currently operates with a small team and expects to grow to approximately ten employees before the year is out.

According to the founders, more than 100 companies are currently on the waitlist, though they chose not to name those organizations. Separately, they noted that over 50 companies have already tested the platform in some capacity, among them Plenty Labs, SICS.ai, Kognity, and Rebtel.

Pricing Model

Fika Jobs is free for job seekers. Employers face no upfront costs, but the company collects a fee equal to 10% of a successfully hired candidate's first-year salary. The founders point out that this compares favorably to the placement fees typically charged by traditional recruitment agencies and headhunters, which commonly range from 20% to 30% of a candidate's annual compensation.

Investors Behind the Round

The $4 million pre-seed round was led by Luminar Ventures, with additional participation from Alliance VC. Also joining the round were Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconi, the co-founders of King - the mobile gaming company best known for producing the widely popular puzzle game Candy Crush. The involvement of high-profile gaming entrepreneurs in a hiring technology startup reflects the growing crossover between consumer product thinking and enterprise software design, particularly when it comes to building platforms that need to attract and retain everyday users.