VCV.AI raises $1.7 million for robot recruiter technology with facial and voice recognition

Recruiting software startup VCV.AI has raised $1.7 million in a Seed funding round to develop its robot recruiter technology featuring facial and voice recognition. The company also plans to strengthen its position in the global recruitment market with efforts including a new office in Tokyo, HR Technologist reports.

Japanese VC Will Group, Talent Equity Ventures, 500 Startups and angel investors including Masahiro Takeshima of Indeed participated in the funding round.

VCV applies artificial intelligence in an attempt to eliminate human bias from hiring processes, and has been used by blue-chip companies for preliminary candidate screening, automated screening calls, and video interviews with voice recognition, according to the report. Candidates can record a video on a computer or smartphone running iOS or Android, and face and voice recognition are used to detect nervousness, mood, and behavior patterns to help recruiters assess the candidate’s cultural fit with the company.

“Technology has transformed so many industries and workflows, yet far too often, hiring remains behind the curve. In my decade working in human resources, I’ve seen firsthand not just the challenges of hiring, but how outdated and inefficient the process often is,” Arik Akverdian, founder and CEO of VCV.AI, said. “But AI can improve and streamline the hiring process, while also helping to remove corrosive biases that all humans have. There’s no reason technological innovation shouldn’t transform this area of business—especially considering human talent is an organization’s most important asset.”

VCV says it saves companies over 20 hours with its recruiting bots, and HR Technologist cites a Deloitte survey that shows companies spend an average of nearly $4,000 per candidate on the hiring process, even after candidates apply.

TechCrunch reports that AI recruiting companies have been drawing significant investor interest, with HireVue raising $93 million and AllyO raising $19 million to improve hiring efficiency.

Biometrics have been applied to the HR sector for background checks, as in the case of Certn, but AI recruiting tools have raised concerns about biased technology, and Amazon has reportedly shut down its own automated recruiting tool over bias. The AI Now Institute compared affect recognition to the thoroughly debunked pseudo-science of phrenology late last year.

Article Topics

artificial intelligence  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  funding  |  voice recognition