Seattle-based interviewing startup Karat has major growth plans after announcing a $110 million Series C round last week.
Co-founder and CEO Mohit Bhende said the company is nearing 200 employees, not including contract interviewers who help screen candidates for Karat's clients. He estimates the startup, which reached a value of $1.1 billion with the funding round, will at least double its headcount in a year.
"I think more critical than just sheer numbers is actually investments in some key areas like data science, our interviewing content team and our go-to-market organization," Bhende said. "I think the overall org will continue to grow."
He added that, before the pandemic, roughly 60% of the company was based in the Seattle area. With the pandemic creating more opportunities for remote work, which the company had already embraced, the split is closer to 50%, he said.
Karat was founded in 2014. The company offers technology and interviewers for clients to screen engineering talent, allowing clients' own engineers to focus on technical work. Karat also offers analytics to help with hiring decisions. The company's clients include American Express, Intuit and Compass. According to Karat, eight clients are now paying more than $1 million per year for the startup's services.
Karat has office space in George F. Russell Jr. Hall on 15th Avenue Northeast, across from the University of Washington campus. Its offices are not yet open, and the company is waiting to see how the evolving Covid-19 situation plays out before making a reopening decision.
Co-founder and President Jeffrey Spector said the company is also waiting to make any decisions regarding its physical footprint.
With the $110 million Series C, Bhende said the company aims to scale its services, and invest in data science as well as research and development on interviews themselves.
Spector added the company has a long-term goal to be involved with more than just screening technical talent.
"We want to help developers in their entire life cycle, from the way they get a job to how they get assessed for a job to how they get promoted and grow in their jobs," he said. "A lot of the information and the expertise that we're building will help us to do that."
