Humanly Acquires Three HR Tech Startups to Grow AI Hiring Platform

Seattle-based recruiting technology startup Humanly has expanded its artificial intelligence hiring platform through the acquisition of three HR technology companies — Sprockets, Qualifi, and HourWork. The move strengthens Humanly’s position in the fast-growing AI recruitment market by bringing more hiring tools under a single platform.

Founded in 2018, Humanly develops automation software that helps businesses streamline high-volume hiring. Its platform enables employers to screen job applicants, schedule interviews, automate candidate communication, conduct reference checks, and manage other recruiting tasks more efficiently.

With the latest acquisitions, Humanly aims to create an end-to-end hiring solution that supports every stage of the recruitment process, from finding candidates to keeping employees engaged after they are hired.

Each acquisition adds a different capability to the company’s expanding platform.

Sprockets enhances Humanly’s talent sourcing capabilities while providing tools that help frontline managers build stronger candidate pipelines.

Qualifi contributes automated phone and voice screening technology, complementing Humanly’s existing AI-powered chat, SMS, and video interview solutions.

Meanwhile, HourWork extends the platform beyond recruitment by offering tools for employee onboarding, training, and retention, particularly for hourly workers.

The financial terms of all three acquisitions were not disclosed.

The deals come during a period of increasing consolidation across the HR software industry. They also follow Workday’s $1 billion acquisition of Paradox, one of Humanly’s key competitors, highlighting the growing demand for AI-powered recruitment technologies.

According to CEO Prem Kumar, Humanly’s mission is to improve communication between employers and every job applicant rather than only responding to a small percentage of candidates.

“Anytime there’s a two-way conversation with a job candidate, we want to make that more efficient, more equitable,” Kumar said.

The rapid growth of generative AI has significantly increased the number of job applications employers receive, as candidates can now apply to hundreds of positions within minutes. Kumar noted that this trend has made it increasingly difficult for recruiters to identify qualified applicants.

To help companies manage the growing workload, Humanly has introduced several AI-driven recruiting tools, including its AI Video Interviewer, launched earlier this year. The system automatically conducts interviews, records responses, and generates interview transcripts for recruiters to review.

Kumar emphasized that Humanly’s technology is designed to support recruiters rather than replace them.

“It’s helping you get to 100% of candidates, not 5%,” he explained.

While some applicants remain hesitant about interacting with AI during the hiring process, Kumar believes the alternative is often receiving no response at all.

“What we’re finding is it’s not the difference between talking to AI and a human — it’s a difference between talking to AI or being ignored,” he said.

Humanly also uses the millions of conversation transcripts generated through its AI chat and video interview systems to improve its machine learning models. These models help recruiters evaluate applicants more accurately and make faster hiring decisions.

The company now says its platform contains more than 600 million candidate profiles and supports interviews for approximately 250,000 job candidates every month.

Following the acquisitions, Humanly employs more than 50 people, including several employees joining from the acquired companies. Kumar said the startup continues investing heavily in growth and infrastructure rather than focusing on profitability.

The company currently serves more than 100 customers, including Microsoft, Rogers Communications, MGM, and Dish Network.

Humanly also reported that it tripled its revenue during 2025 and plans to raise additional funding next year to support continued expansion.

Earlier this year, the startup secured $7 million in funding, bringing its total funding to $24 million.

Before launching Humanly alongside Andrew Gardner and Bryan Leptich, Kumar spent a decade at Microsoft, where he helped integrate LinkedIn data into Microsoft’s products. Humanly later joined Y Combinator’s 2019 accelerator program, helping fuel its growth in the AI recruiting space.

With the acquisitions of Sprockets, Qualifi, and HourWork, Humanly is positioning itself as a more comprehensive AI-powered hiring platform capable of supporting employers throughout the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment to retention.

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