Helio AI Secures $1M Seed Round to Scale Its AI Recruiting Agent Globally

Helio AI, the US based AI-powered recruiting platform for high-volume and frontline hiring built by its Georgian team, has secured a $1M seed round led by SABAH.fund, joined by DOMiNO Ventures, Axiom, Tetrad VC and Angel investor Bas Godska. The new funding will be used to scale Helio’s AI Recruiting Agent globally, expand product capabilities, and transform how companies hire in fast-growing markets.

Helio AI combines an intelligent recruiting agent, able to chat, think, and act in local languages with game-based psychometric tests. The platform automates up to 70% of recruiter tasks, instantly ranks top candidates, and improves the accuracy and speed of hiring for companies with large applicant volumes.

The company previously raised a $350K pre-seed round from angel investor Teimuraz Jashi, Georgian Business Angel Network - Axel, and 500 Eurasia. This early backing enabled Helio to build its core AI technology and prove strong traction across emerging markets with hundreds of international brands across 7 countries. 

“We’re thankful for the continued trust of our early investors and more than happy to welcome new ones. We choose our partners carefully, people who share our culture, energy, and way of working, because synergy matters when you’re building something big. This round marks an important step in scaling Helio globally and amplifying the impact we’re already creating across our markets” - Said co-founder and CEO of Helio AI, Iako Jikia. 

In the newly closed $1M seed round, Investors emphasized that Helio AI is tackling one of the largest pain points in HR, the manual, repetitive, and biased nature of frontline hiring - especially in high-turnover industries.

SABAH.fund highlighted the combination of sharp insight and clear demand:
“We are excited to be leading Helio AI’s round because their vision directly aligns with our mission at SABAH.fund, backing founders who are solving large-scale, systemic challenges. HR technology touches nearly every organization in the world, yet remains underserved by advanced AI. Helio is closing that gap and we believe they have an exceptional team that is uniquely equipped to power the future of recruitment.”  - Said Managing Partner of SABAH.fund, Abbas Kazmi

Technological depth and the long-term shift toward intelligence-driven recruitment was the main focus for Axiom:
“At Axiom, we invest in companies that use technology to solve structural inefficiencies… Helio AI tackles one of the most persistent - and expensive - problems in business: understanding human capability beyond the CV.”

Early traction is one of the most reliable indicators of whether a startup is solving a real problem. Helio’s ability to win international brands across multiple countries without heavy marketing spend on that early stage stood out to investors as a powerful sign of genuine product-market fit and Tetrad VC emphasized this point clearly:

“They’re expanding across countries, working with international brands, and addressing  a critical  problem in the hiring process… When a startup grows month after month without heavy marketing spend, it means the product works, and the team knows what they’re doing.”

At the seed stage, leadership often determines whether a startup merely grows, or becomes a category-defining company. For DOMiNO Ventures, Helio’s long-term consistency, discipline, and execution from the founders played a decisive role in their investment:

“Over the past 1.5 years, we have closely followed Helio’s progress and witnessed their remarkable consistency, transparent communication, and strong execution capacity in driving the company forward. This dedication and clarity of purpose reinforced our belief that Helio AI is not only solving an important problem but is also led by a team fully capable of building a category-defining company.”

In addition to the investors above, serial angel investor Bas Godska has also joined this round. He is the founder of Acrobator Ventures and an early investor in companies like decacorn MIRO and Harver (a recruiting platform acquired by Outmatch, US-based HR technology company). Bas brings a broad and distinguished background in growth, marketing scale-up, and cross-regional expansion.

With the new funding and support of its global investor group, Helio AI is positioned to accelerate its expansion and continue redefining frontline hiring. The company will focus on scaling its AI Recruiting Agent and bringing faster, fairer, and more intelligent hiring to employers worldwide.