NYC-based Elly Raises $8M for AI Hiring Platform

Elly just secured $8M, and if you think this is another AI recruiting headline drifting through your feed, slow down and actually look at what is happening under the hood. Recruit Tech Labs, doing business as Elly, is building an AI native hiring platform out of New York, and they are doing it with intention. Founded in 2022, with Founder Nic Mahaney stepping in publicly from 2023, Elly was created inside Atomic, the venture studio led by Jack Abraham. That origin story matters. Venture studios do not swing unless they see a category begging for reinvention.

The round was led by Sorenson Capital, with participation from Atomic and Next Wave NYC. Rob Rueckert, Partner at Sorenson Capital, is joining the board. When capital comes with board seats, that is not a casual relationship. That is long term conviction in a company that believes hiring should think, not just track.

Kristen Habacht, CEO of Elly, is not new to scaling revenue engines. Former CRO at Typeform, former President and COO at Shogun, sales leadership at Trello and Atlassian. Kristen Habacht understands what it means to build teams that build teams. Pair that with Nic Mahaney’s product DNA and you get something sharper than another AI bolt on to an aging ATS.

Elly is positioning itself as the system that actually understands how decisions get made. Not just who applied. Not just who interviewed. It listens to kickoff calls, captures interview context, structures feedback, and compounds that intelligence over time. AI Sourcer. AI Interviewer. AI Notetaker. AI Application Review. AI Pipeline Creation. All living inside 1 operating layer instead of 5 disconnected tools duct taped together.

The early data they are sharing is not subtle. Up to 1 hour and 45 minutes saved per candidate on write ups. 3–5 hours a week back from manual notes. 5–10 hours reclaimed by replacing repetitive screening calls with structured AI interviews. Across tech, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality. 14 employees building for industries that do not have time for fluff.

And here is the quiet flex. They partnered with Warden AI to audit bias across more than 13,000 interview samples, publishing results and leaning into SOC 2 and GDPR compliance. In a market where everyone says responsible AI, Elly is putting receipts on the table.

This $8M is not about adding another logo to a pitch deck. It is fuel to deepen product, scale customer growth, and expand a model that blends platform and service into 1 recruiting engine. Hiring has always been part art, part instinct, part spreadsheet. Elly is betting that if you capture the instinct and structure the art, the spreadsheet finally starts telling the truth.

The real question is not whether AI will touch hiring. It already has. The question is which platforms will actually understand the rhythm of how humans decide. Elly is stepping into that space with capital, conviction, and leadership that knows how to scale.