Jack & Jill AI has raised $20M to develop autonomous AI agents aimed at transforming the hiring process. These agents conduct thousands of human-like conversations daily, addressing inefficiencies and discrimination in traditional recruitment.

Jack & Jill raises $20M to fix job hunting with conversational AI. Jack & Jill, a hiring platform powered by conversational generative artificial intelligence, said today it has raised $20 million in seed funding led by Creandum. Every year, millions of job seekers go online to find employment and 68% of companies said they used online platforms for "all" or "most" of their hiring, according to a report from iHire. But despite this digital shift, the experience has deteriorated for both employers and candidates. "Hiring is broken for candidates and companies. Misaligned incentives, spammy outreach and crowded inboxes," Chief Executive Matthew Wilson said in the announcement. According to Wilson, AI has made the problem worse. It has enabled job seekers to generate generic cover letters and flood job boards with automated applications, while recruiters increasingly rely on keyword-based filters that screen out qualified candidates with little context. "We're not adding a layer on top of that messy system," said Wilson. "We're rethinking it from first-principles, equipping everybody with an agent that works for them." Given the name of the company, it's easy to understand that the platform is a two-part system. Jack is a conversational AI chatbot that does intake interviews with job seekers. It gets to know them, understands their skills and experience, and works through what they really want out of their career. It does this with a 20-minute profile interview that gives users a real chance to describe their experience and role in the workplace, as well as their ambitions. The platform can also be used for mock interviews or more involved "coaching" to provide users with the tools needed to land their preferred job. Jill, on the other hand, works with employers by building a profile of specific roles and job opportunities, then uses information from the solution to find applicants that fit those requirements and company needs. Wilson said in just six months, already 49,000 candidates have spoken with Jack, and Jill has managed the initial recruitment process for hundreds of high-growth companies in London. "Talking to Jill was a surprisingly valuable experience - she had way more context than we expected, and we're already speaking to some excellent candidates as a result," said Eric Landau, co-founder and CEO of data annotation platform Encord. Jack is currently free for job seekers. The company earns revenue by charging employers a 10% commission on successful hires that Jill helps facilitate. This year has seen a wave of AI-driven hiring platforms gaining traction. Freelancer marketplace Upwork Inc. upgraded its AI capabilities with an instant-interview chatbot feature, while recruiting startup Mercor Inc. raised $100 million. Even Google LLC has entered the space with Career Dreamer, an experimental AI-powered career assistant designed to help students, recent graduates and other job seekers explore opportunities in the workforce. Although Wilson noted that AI is breaking the job marketplace, it's still early in deciding if AI will repair it. With this $20 million raise, Jack & Jill has a chance to help change the current experience of looking at postings online and then trying to get noticed amid hundreds or more potential candidates bustling for the same role. Wilson said the company intends to set its sights on broader job markets with an international expansion. The company also has plans for major updates to the platform coming in the next few months. Image: microsoft designer/siliconangle. A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE: Support its mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE's Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities. * 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more * 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni - Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network. SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios - with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange - SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI. Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Its new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.

British hrtech Jack & Jill raises $20M to expand to US. The team is preparing for an imminent launch in San Francisco as part of its broader international expansion. London-based startup Jack & Jill has secured 20 million dollars in seed funding to expand its AI-powered recruitment platform to the United States. The round was led by early-stage European VC firm Creandum, with participation from Ada Ventures, Dig Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Firedrop, Repeat.vc, Episode1, Playfair, and over 75 angel investors, including Nico Rosberg and individuals from Lovable, Anthropic and ElevenLabs. The company uses conversational AI agents to streamline recruitment for both candidates and employers. Jack, one of the startup's AI agents, interacts with job seekers to understand their experience and goals, surfacing only roles that closely match. Jill, its counterpart for employers, learns hiring requirements and identifies candidates by scanning thousands of Jack's conversations. "Agency recruiters are heavily constrained by their capacity, while job boards force candidates to sift through endless listings and inundate hiring teams with poorly-suited applicants." said Co-Founder and CTO Saaras Mehan. Since launching six months ago, Jack & Jill reports that 49,000 candidates have interacted with Jack, while Jill is embedded within the hiring teams of hundreds of fast-growing companies in London. The company says its clients are seeing faster hiring times, improved candidate quality, and reduced fees compared to traditional recruiters. The team, currently 12 people strong, is preparing for an imminent launch in San Francisco as part of its broader international expansion. "Jack & Jill is one of the most exciting businesses leveraging agentic AI that we have seen. The significant market traction they have gained at such an early stage is proof of the market demand. "We have no doubt that Matthew, Saaras, and the team are leading a revolution in this industry, and we can't wait to see the response in the US," said Peter Specht, General Partner at Creandum.