Fika Jobs raises $4M for video-first AI hiring
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- Fika Jobs raised a $4 million pre-seed round led by Luminar Ventures, with Alliance VC and Candy Crush co-creators Sebastian Knutsson and Riccardo Zacconi participating.
- Fika's AI uses Google's Gemini models to power ~10-minute video interviews that auto-generate short-form video profiles candidates maintain live for employer discovery.
- Co-founders Jakob and Alexander Dubois built Fika after nearly passing on a Gaff candidate whose resume hid his obvious grit, drive, and ambition.
- Fika differentiates from competitors Alex, Maki, and Mercor by centering candidates as profile-owners employers browse, rather than optimizing only employer-side sourcing.
- Fika's business model charges employers 10% of a placed candidate's first-year salary — undercutting typical 20-30% recruiter fees — while staying free for job seekers.
- The company itself flags bias risks: video profiles expose race, age, gender, and accent before qualifications, in contrast with blind-screening trends.
- Fika opens candidate access this week with 100+ employers on the waitlist and 50+ testers including Plenty Labs, SICS.ai, Kognity, and Rebtel, targeting a Sweden-first public launch this fall.
Why it matters: Fika's video-first model surfaces traits resumes miss — but it also exposes race, age, gender, and accent, the very signals blind screening was designed to remove. With 100+ employers waitlisted and a 10% fee undercutting traditional 20-30% recruiter rates, the format is being stress-tested by real hiring teams before Fika's Sweden-first fall launch.
