Fika Jobs raises $4M to build video-first hiring platform with AI agent interviews

For years, the hiring process has drawn criticism for being inefficient and opaque. Job seekers spend hours crafting applications and cover letters, only to feel like they disappear into a black hole. Generative AI has only added to the confusion, as employers now rely heavily on AI screening tools to manage an overwhelming flood of submissions.

Stockholm-based startup Fika Jobs believes a better approach exists. The company is developing a video-first hiring platform that blends AI interview agents with short video profiles, resulting in a hybrid of LinkedIn and TikTok. Rather than depending solely on resumes, candidates take part in AI-driven interviews aimed at highlighting their personality and communication abilities.

On Tuesday, Fika Jobs announced a $4 million pre-seed funding round. The capital will be used to further develop the platform, expand the team, and prepare for a broader launch later this year.

For job seekers, the process begins by linking their LinkedIn profile. Fika's AI reviews the candidate's background and creates tailored interview questions. Candidates then complete a roughly 10-minute video interview with the AI agent, which is currently powered by Google's Gemini models.

After the interview, Fika automatically converts responses into short video clips and arranges them into a profile. Instead of applying to each new position, candidates maintain a live profile that employers can find and revisit as new opportunities appear.

Image Credit:Fika Jobs

The concept originated from co-founders and brothers Jakob Dubois (CEO) and Alexander Dubois (CTO) while they were building their previous startup.

“While building [social app] Gaff, we spent a lot of time recruiting and nearly overlooked a candidate because his resume wasn't particularly impressive,” Jakob Dubois told TechCrunch. “We decided to talk to him anyway, and within minutes, his determination, drive, and ambition were clear. He was exactly the kind of person we wanted to hire.”

That experience convinced the founders that certain traits employers value most are hard to convey on paper.

Unlike most competitors — such as Alex, Maki, and Mercor — which focus on using AI to help employers source, screen, and match candidates more efficiently, Fika is building a platform where candidates maintain video-first profiles and employers can browse a pool of people who have already been interviewed and assessed by AI.

If successful, Fika Jobs could help employers evaluate 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 isn't always obvious from a resume alone.

Of course, video profiles also introduce genuine bias risks that deserve acknowledgment. When employers can see a candidate's race, age, gender, physical appearance, and accent before assessing their qualifications, it opens the door to discrimination that a resume, despite its flaws, at least partially hides. That's why some companies have adopted blind resume screening.

The platform plans to offer 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 grow to around 10 employees by the end of the year.

According to the founders, more than 100 companies are on the waitlist, though they declined to name them. Separately, they said over 50 companies have tested the platform, including Plenty Labs, SICS.ai, Kognity, and Rebtel.

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.)

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