Singapore HR tech startup impress.ai secures $3m pre-Series A funding

impress.ai, a Singapore-based AI-powered chatbot platform for recruiters, announced raising S$4 million ($3 million) in funding that will be used to enter new markets, expand product development, and make strategic hires.

In a statement, the startup said the funding round was led by Summit 29K and participated by SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore. It followed the $1.2-million funding round in 2018, led by venture builder Reapra.

impress.ai, which was launched in 2017, said the funds will be used to drive expansion into new markets such as Australia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, accelerate product development, increase marketing outreach, and attract more expert talent to join the team.

The startup operates a no-code, self-service platform that is highly focused on simplifying and accelerating various parts of the recruitment workflow. It uses AI chatbots to create a seamless interview experience for candidates, answer queries with a 96% accuracy rate while simultaneously providing assessments, and assign an overall metric value to the candidate.

The AI algorithm can be localized to account for different hiring regulations, language, practices, and cultural sensitivities to help enterprises stay agile in the dynamic world of recruitment.

“Understanding how to best recruit, utilize and retain talent while working remotely is increasingly becoming a topic of focus. This has resulted in growing business opportunities and interest in how our solution is able to help achieve that,” said Sudhanshu Ahuja, CEO and co-founder of impress.ai.

The startup is aiming for a lion’s share of the global virtual recruitment space estimated to be worth $17.72 billion by 2023.

The company’s client include over 50 large enterprises and government agencies such as DBS, Singtel, ADB, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Commenting on its investment, Summit 29K’s director, Mahtani Bhagwandas, said impress.ai is bridging a gap that has existed for long in the recruitment space.

“We see enormous potential in the company, and believe the team is well placed to challenge the status quo to enable faster, fairer, and more efficient hiring,” Bhagwandas added.