The concept of “Agentic AI” has been gaining significant attention lately. Both large and small developers are racing to create applications that can leverage generative AI in specific contexts, and investors are eager to fund the most promising projects. This trend has led to a surge in the development of AI-powered tools, with many startups emerging to capitalize on the opportunity.

One such startup, Perfect, has recently secured $23 million in seed funding. Perfect is a platform designed to assist recruiters in sourcing and hiring candidates for job openings. By utilizing AI technology, Perfect aims to streamline the recruitment process, saving recruiters up to 25 hours of work per week. Since its inception, Perfect has grown its customer base from 20 to 200 businesses, including notable companies such as Fiverr, eToro, McCann, and Coralogix.

Perfect functions as a co-pilot for recruiting teams, aiding them in crafting job posts, determining where to advertise them, and managing inbound responses. While it competes with established tools from companies like Indeed, Recruiter, and LinkedIn, Perfect’s unique approach has resonated with its customers.

Perfect’s founder, Eylon Etshtein, drew inspiration from his previous experience as the founder of Anyvision, a facial recognition startup. Etshtein recognized the limitations of manual hiring processes and envisioned a platform that could leverage AI to understand a company’s hiring needs and assist in finding the most suitable candidates.

From Facial Recognition to Candidate Selection

After stepping away from Anyvision, Etshtein shifted his focus to developing Perfect. He built the platform from the ground up, creating a proprietary vector data set and training it with data sourced from third-party providers. This approach has allowed Perfect to differentiate itself from other AI-based HR startups, which often rely on third-party large language models.

Etshtein emphasized that building Perfect’s platform took approximately three years, even before the emergence of ChatGPT. The company’s pre-ChatGPT work has proven to be invaluable, as Large Language Models (LLMs) struggle with handling large payloads of data, which is a critical component of the recruitment process.

Perfect’s funding announcement consists of two tranches: an initial equity investment of $12 million from Target Global, RTP Global, Pitango, and others, followed by an interest-free SAFE note from Hanaco Ventures, Joule Ventures, and Young Sohn, the former president of Samsung. This investment will enable Perfect to further enhance its toolset and expand its services to candidates, providing them with a free tool to optimize their job search efforts.

The recruitment industry has become a focal point for AI developers, as the current processes are often inefficient and labor-intensive. Perfect is not alone in this space, with companies like LinkedIn, HiBob, Workable, Maki, Mercor, Tezi, and SeekOut also developing AI-powered recruitment tools. However, Perfect’s unique approach and proprietary data set have garnered significant attention from investors and customers alike.

Looking ahead, Perfect plans to continue improving its toolset for recruiters and expanding its services to candidates. By providing a free tool for job seekers, Perfect aims to gather more data, which will further enhance its platform and drive innovation in the recruitment industry.

As the recruitment landscape continues to evolve, it is likely that AI-powered tools like Perfect will play an increasingly important role in streamlining the hiring process. With its unique approach and commitment to innovation, Perfect is well-positioned to make a significant impact in the industry.