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IT may be a fast-growing sector, but it faces several challenges when it comes to recruiting quality talent. The process is often cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive, besides being fraught with bias. 

Here is where Gurugram-based Coffeee.io hopes to make a difference. It is a tech recruitment startup that provides recruiters a pool of pre-assessed developers to pick from and facilitates online interviews. 

The objective is to help recruiters make quick and bias-free decisions, in a cost-effective and efficient manner by bringing all recruitment related functions in one place. The startup also aims to create a community for job seekers and developers to collaborate, learn and grow, and find the right job.  

While it is difficult to imagine life in the modern day without technology, tech recruitment ironically remains outdated, says Amit Veer, CEO of the startup. This is the primary pain point that Coffeee.io wants to tackle. 

The startup was set up in July last year by Amit, Neha Sharma, and Ankit Mittal. While Neha is the chief security officer of the startup, Ankit is its chief technology officer (CTO). Prior to starting up, the three of them had worked in fintech, IT, and telecom sectors. 

Coffee is a beverage that helps one freshen up and be active to deliver results. And this is what Cofeee.io aspires to be in the world of tech recruitment, says Amit, explaining the thought behind the company’s name. 

How the platform works

Coffeee.io provides an AI-enabled platform that connects freshers as well as experienced developers with relevant job opportunities. Before they are connected with recruiters, the platform assesses their skills and abilities via tests and mock interviews. 

Once pre-screened developers are part of the pool, recruiters can evaluate their profiles using over 40 parameters based on their needs and then conduct live interviews. 

“The interview platform supports live online coding; so the interviewers can see the candidates coding live and be absolutely sure of the candidate’s skill and quality,” explains Amit. “We want to improve the authenticity of each profile so it is convenient for both recruiters and job seekers.”

Coffeee.io also offers free online bootcamps for college graduates to help them excel at assessment and interviews. The bootcamps provide focused modules that prep candidates who are talented but unable to crack the hiring process due to lack of training or specific skills. 

Scope and benefits 

The whole process ensures that every developer, including those from Tier II, III, and IV cities, gets a fair chance during recruitment. As the platform is AI-based, everything depends on how an individual performs in the pre-screening tests and there is no scope for bias, explains Amit. 

The platform has more than 72,000 developers with representation from all corners of the country and engineering institutions such as IIT, NIT, and BITS. Over 700 colleges and 45,000 students from all over India are associated with the platform. 

The experienced candidates come from global companies such as Amazon, Oracle, Google, TCS, and Infosys and also from newer product companies. 

More than 70 global and local companies, both established brands and startups, hire on Coffeee.io. 

As the platform provides all recruitment related functions in one place (screening, evaluation, interview), the entire process of recruitment becomes efficient. Recruiters also save time as they do not have to go through hundreds of unvetted resumes and then wait for assessments, says the founder. 

Companies also save on additional costs such as resume sourcing, assessment application tracking, and an interview platform, he says, adding that Coffeee.io charges 30-40% lesser than the market rate. 

Growth and road ahead 

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global human resource (HR) technology market is projected to grow from $23.98 billion in 2022 to $39.90 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 7.5%. 

The HR tech market in India is valued at $850 million and is expected to reach $1,510 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 9.9%, as per IMARC Group. 

Coffeee.io competes with players such as Naukri, LinkedIn, Unstop, CoCubes, Interview Vector, Geeksforgeeks, and CodingNinjas. 

In August last year, Coffeee.io had raised Rs 6 crore in a pre-seed funding round led by Riverwalk 

Holdings and renowned angel investors such as Kunal Shah (Founder, Cred), Amit Lakhotia (Founder, Park+), Prabhu R (Founder, M2P), Giridhar Malpani (Founder, Climber Capital), Vikas Garg (Founder, Kredmint), Kishore Ganji (Astir Ventures), Rameez Momin (MD, Oxford Bridge Capital), Chinmay Sharma (Partner, Info Edge), and Pratekk Agarwaal (Founder, Trutes Advisors). 

The startup plans to raise more funds and launch its platform in the United States in the first quarter of 2023. It also aims to expand to more campuses in India over the next one year.