San Francisco-based Alex, an AI recruiting startup that automates initial candidate interviews, has raised $17M in a Series A round led by Stride VC, with participation from Northzone, Seedcamp, and Moonfire Ventures.
Founded in 2023 by James Perry and Sophie Muller, Alex uses conversational AI agents to conduct early-stage job interviews. The AI screens candidates for role fit, captures structured data, and generates detailed candidate reports for hiring teams—freeing up recruiters from repetitive tasks and speeding up hiring cycles.
The startup says its AI recruiter can conduct hundreds of interviews in parallel, ensuring consistency while also giving candidates a faster and more personalized experience.
“Recruiters are spending too much time on admin and repetitive screening calls,” said Perry, co-founder and CEO. “We built Alex to handle the heavy lifting, so human recruiters can focus on what matters most: building relationships and making great hires.”
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Traction across industries
Since launch, Alex has run over 250,000 interviews for clients across tech, retail, healthcare, and financial services. Customers report time-to-hire reductions of up to 40% and more consistent candidate evaluation compared to traditional processes.
The company also emphasizes compliance and fairness, claiming its AI recruiter applies structured evaluation criteria to minimize bias in early screening.
Fuel for US expansion
With the fresh funding, Alex plans to expand operations in the US market, scale its engineering and sales teams, and advance product capabilities—including integrations with major ATS platforms and deeper multilingual support.
“Our vision is simple,” said Muller, co-founder and COO. “Every candidate deserves a fast, fair, and transparent hiring experience. By making the first touchpoint with AI, we unlock scalability and give companies the insights they need to hire smarter.”
