AI-DRIVEN TALENT MANAGEMENT FIRM, SENSE RAISES $16M IN SERIES C FUNDING ROUND.

Artificial Intelligence has advanced by leaps and bounds due to the technological revolution, and has made its way into every sector of the economy. The recruitment industry has evolved into a very mature market with an estimated value of $6 billion.

The adoption of AI & technology in the recruitment process across industries has been accelerated as an impact of Covid-19. Another trend that has been recognized with the millennial generation occupying larger roles in the workforce is the employee experience at the workplace. It has become largely important to create a personalized recruitment process to build stronger relationships & scale the process of placements, and AI has proven to play an important role in making this process easier in the most feasible manner. Cashing in & identifying this issue, software & staffing experts – Anil Dharni & Pankaj Jindal founded ‘Sense’ in 2015. This bangalore-based startup with its headquarters in San Francisco, is a smart talent engagement & communication platform which provides an enterprise-ready solution for talent acquisition teams. Sense creates a customized workflow to connect with talent across the complete candidate life cycle through their offerings such as automation of manual tasks, sense messaging & sense recruitment chatbot. Sense automates engagement from onboarding to redeployment & helps in measuring, tracking & analysing potential issues in client satisfaction.  This personalized approach has led to a 263% increase in candidate screenings, reduced time spent in placement by 30-81% & saved up to 800 hours compared to a manual approach. .

With HR tech space gaining interest, Sense raised $16 M in its Series C round led by Avataar Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Accel Partners & Google Ventures. This investment takes the total funding amount to $40 M, with other investors like Chiratae Ventures, IDG Capital & Khosla Ventures. Speaking on the investment, Anil Dharni, CEO & Co-founder, Sense said, “There’s never been a more challenging time in the labor market than today. Our mission to help companies find the right candidates, fast, is even more critical now during a time when nearly every industry is facing challenges around attracting candidates efficiently – from engagement to retention.”  Expanding their stronghold in India, Sanjay Dharmani will be heading Sense India as the Managing Director, which shall be the regional HQ, and with this latest round of funding, Nishant Rao, Founder of Avataar Venture Partners will be joining the Board. Further on the investment & joining the Board, Nishant Rao, founder, Avataar Venture Partners said, “Based on my extended stint running LinkedIn in the region and thereby developing a great appreciation for HR tech, I’m really excited about the immense potential Sense holds. The macro-shift to contingent labor and gig economy has already grown 10x over the past decade and yet we’ve only just begun scratching the surface. I believe our investments in new products will allow Sense to go from a robust system of engagement to a truly distinctive network/platform play for the future.”  

The startup currently serves over 400 customers across the globe which counts Amazon & Kelly Services among others, and in the last year, doubled their revenue as well as the headcount. Sense intends to utilize the latest inflow of funds towards expansion with a keen focus on growing their technology center & hire top talent across various verticals. “We see India as a highly strategic market for us. This global expansion allows us to tap into that rich talent market to grow our product and engineering team as well as a dedicated marketing and customer success team,” added Dharni.

Find out more about how your recruitment process can be made easy & personalized using the product offerings of Sense.