Kiku, a Copenhagen-based AI-powered recruitment platform designed for high-volume frontline hiring, has successfully raised € 4 million in seed funding. The investment round was led by Cherry Ventures, with additional contributions from Yellow, and prominent angel investors including Fredrik Hjelm and Felipe Navio. This funding comes just four months after Kiku closed its angel round, underscoring strong investor confidence in the startup’s innovative approach to recruitment.
Frontline hiring represents a massive global market, valued at over $100 billion, yet it remains burdened by inefficiencies such as endless recruiter calls, poor timing, and repetitive questioning. Kiku aims to transform this landscape with its AI-native platform, which streamlines the hiring process by screening, qualifying, interviewing, and onboarding candidates. This technology significantly reduces the time-to-hire from days to mere minutes.
Founded in 2024 by Eric André and Rasmus Andersen, Kiku addresses a critical gap in the recruitment market. Frontline jobs, which account for over 80% of the global workforce—representing 2.7 billion people in industries such as retail, hospitality, and logistics—have been largely overlooked by traditional recruitment tools. These roles often face turnover rates of 60–80% annually, and it typically takes over 40 days to fill a position. Recruiters spend considerable time on repetitive tasks, and up to 80% of candidates report being ghosted during the process.
“Kiku is solving one of the most painful and under-invested challenges in hiring. Eric and Rasmus bring deep operational experience, product insight, and urgency to this problem. We believe Kiku will define the category for AI in frontline recruitment,”
said Sophia Bendz, Partner at Cherry Ventures.
Kiku’s mobile-first, conversational interface allows candidates to apply 24/7 via simple voice or chat conversations with the company’s AI agent. This dynamic system adapts to different languages and interview formats, ensuring companies can connect with the best candidates anytime, anywhere. The platform eliminates forms and pre-recorded videos, focusing instead on a two-way interaction where candidates can ask questions and progress if there is a mutual fit. According to the company every applicant is assessed solely on merit, free from biases related to gender, name, age, or ethnicity.
