The hiring process has long been criticized for its inefficiency and opacity. Candidates spend hours writing applications and submitting cover letters, only to disappear into what often feels like a black box. Generative AI has only made things messier, with employers increasingly relying on AI-powered screening systems to sift through an overwhelming number of submissions. Stockholm-based startup Fika Jobs believes there is a better way.
The company announced on Tuesday a $4 million pre-seed round, led by Luminar Ventures with participation from Alliance VC and King co-founders Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconi. The funds will be used to continue developing the platform, grow the team, and prepare for a wider launch later this year.
Video and AI replace the traditional resume
Fika Jobs is building a video-first hiring platform that combines AI interview 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. The process starts by connecting a LinkedIn profile: Fika's AI reviews the candidate's background and generates personalized interview questions. Candidates then complete a roughly 10-minute video interview with the AI agent, currently powered by Google's Gemini models. After the interview, Fika automatically turns responses 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 discover and revisit as new opportunities arise.
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The experience that inspired the founders
The idea came from co-founders and brothers Jakob Dubois (CEO) and Alexander Dubois (CTO) while 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 did not really stand out," Jakob Dubois told TechCrunch. "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 experience convinced the founders that some traits that employers care about most are difficult to capture on paper. Unlike most competitors (Alex, Maki, and Mercor, among others) that focus on helping employers source, screen, and match candidates more efficiently with AI, Fika is building a platform where candidates maintain video-first profiles and employers browse a pool of people who have already been interviewed and evaluated by AI.
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Benefits and risks for candidates and companies
If successful, Fika Jobs could help employers assess communication skills and cultural fit early in the hiring process, complementing traditional resume and application reviews. This approach may be especially valuable for early-career professionals and candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, whose potential is not always apparent from a resume alone. However, video profiles introduce real bias risks that are also worth acknowledging. When employers can see a candidate's race, age, gender, physical appearance, and accent before evaluating their qualifications, it opens the door to discrimination that a resume, for all its flaws, at least partially obscures. There is a reason some companies have moved toward blind resume screening.
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Business model and future prospects
The platform is free for job seekers. Employers pay nothing upfront, but Fika takes 10% of a candidate's first-year salary upon a successful hire. The company notes that this is lower than the 20% to 30% placement fees often charged by traditional recruiters and headhunters. More than 100 companies are on the waitlist, though the founders declined to disclose which ones. Separately, they said more than 50 companies have tested the platform, including Plenty Labs, SICS.ai, Kognity, and Rebtel. The broader public launch is expected this fall, with an initial focus on Sweden before expanding internationally. The team is small but expects to reach around 10 employees by the end of the year. While tech giants like Microsoft invest in energy infrastructure to support AI, startups like Fika Jobs show how artificial intelligence can revolutionize everyday processes like recruiting, opening new possibilities for candidates and companies. According to the Wikipedia article on AI in hiring, this technology can help reduce bias if designed properly, but requires constant attention.
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