For years, recruiters used machine learning to find potential hires by searching for keywords in résumés and LinkedIn profiles. Although this method helps to narrow the candidate pool, recruiters still have to manually review each profile to determine the best fit for the job.
David Paffenholz (pictured left) and Ishan Gupta, then just 22 and 19, respectively, realized that LLMs could find talent faster and more efficiently. They built Juicebox, an AI-powered search engine that uses natural language to analyze professional profiles, personal websites, and other publicly available information to identify the most qualified candidates.
After attending startup accelerator Y Combinator in the summer of 2022, Paffenholz and Gupta spent a couple more years refining their product. When their AI search engine, PeopleGPT, was ready in late 2023, it was quickly adopted by a wide range of customers, from small startups to large companies like Cognition, Ramp, and Perplexity.
In a short period of time, it was serving over 2,500 customers and achieving more than $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR).
On Thursday, Juicebox announced that it had raised $36 million in total funding, including a $30 million Series A round led by Sequoia.
