Jooba Raises $4M to Build the AI-Native Recruiting Firm to Help Fast-Growing Companies Hire Top Talent
Jooba, an AI-native recruiting firm, led by Mark Benliyan, announced its general availability and $4 million in seed funding from a16z Speedrun, Scribble Ventures, and Genius Ventures.
Jooba combines human expertise with custom AI agents to deliver an embedded recruiting solution that helps companies hire top talent faster and at lower costs.
Fast-growing startups face a choice between traditional recruiting agencies, which can charge over $30,000 per hire, and self-serve AI tools that shift the operational burden onto companies. Neither offers the combination of personalized recruiting expertise, speed, and cost-efficiency that startups need.
"We’ve tried nearly every other recruiting platform and agency out there, and can confidently say Jooba has been by far the best recruiting experience we’ve ever had,” said Keyan Kazemian, Co-Founder and CEO of 222.
Jooba combines AI-driven candidate sourcing with human oversight through a fully managed recruiting service. After understanding a company’s hiring needs, its team builds custom AI agents to identify suitable candidates, with talent engineers reviewing profiles before personalized outreach.
Key features include:
Custom AI Sourcing Agents: Tailored to each role’s technical and cultural requirements.
Human Quality Control: Talent engineers review and approve candidate pipelines.
Personalized Outreach: Contacts candidates on behalf of founders or hiring managers.
Slack Integration: Routes candidates to dedicated channels for review and interview scheduling.
Subscription Pricing: Offers flexible hiring capacity through predictable subscription fees.
"Traditional recruiting agencies are using AI to do less work while still charging startups $30,000 to $50,000 a hire," explained Troy Kirwin, Partner at a16z speedrun. “As an AI-native firm, Jooba is fixing that misalignment by building a structurally better business model that serves the needs of fast growing companies much better."
"Founders don't have months to wait for an agency to slowly build a pipeline, which is why we optimized Jooba for sheer speed to value,” explained Mark Benliyan, co-founder and CEO of Jooba. “Within 22 hours of our onboarding call, our customers are talking to their first highly qualified candidate. By letting our AI agents do the heavy lifting of sourcing, we are cutting the total time to hire by 50%, allowing lean teams to stay focused on building their product."
