Exclusive: Paraform raises $40M to scale AI recruiting
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Paraform, a platform that connects tech companies with specialized recruiters, raised a $40 million Series B, CEO John Kim tells Axios exclusively.
The big picture: The median VC round in HR tech has hovered around $2 million–$3 million in the last year, per PitchBook.
Follow the money: The round was led by Scale VP, with participation from Felicis, which led Paraform's Series A in June 2025.
How it works: Unlike software vendors that sell into people teams, San Francisco-based Paraform targets a company's broader pool of hiring spend, which often includes external agencies, headhunters and internal recruiting teams.
- "We don't really consider ourselves part of the traditional HR tech budget," Kim says. "We go after any budget companies spend on recruiting."
Fun fact: Kim and co-founder Jeffrey Li started the company after attempting to recruit each other and seeing how inefficient the hiring process can be.
- "Data is commoditized and software is commoditized," Kim says. "But human talent is still the most valuable resource in the world."
What we're watching: Paraform is expanding beyond its core tech base into verticals like legal, where it's already working with about 30 law firms and hasn't needed to significantly change its product, Kim says.
