Humanly’s $25M Bet: From AI Interview Tool to Staffing Agency Slayer

In a move that could fundamentally reshape how companies hire, Bellevue-based Humanly has secured $25 million in Series B funding to transform itself from an AI-powered recruiting tool into what CEO Prem Kumar calls a “service-as-a-software” powerhouse—essentially aiming to replace traditional staffing agencies with intelligent automation.

The math is compelling: while the recruiting software market sits at a respectable $14 billion, the actual business of placing people in jobs represents a massive $500 billion opportunity. Humanly isn’t just chasing the bigger number—they’re reimagining the entire value chain of hiring.

“We’re reinventing ourselves,” Kumar explains, rejecting the notion that this represents a pivot. “Instead of a tool to go out and find profiles of job seekers, we’re just giving you the candidate themselves.”

This isn’t semantics. It’s a fundamental shift from providing software that helps recruiters find candidates to delivering pre-vetted, interview-ready job seekers directly to employers. Think of

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