Elly
Category: AI in HR & Talent
AI-native recruiting where expert recruiters and AI work together on every search—combining platform software with full-search recruiting at ~2x agency speed and ~50% lower cost. Elly was founded in 2022. The company is led by Kristen Habacht. Based in New York, United States. Team size: 10-50. Total funding raised: $8.0M. Latest round: Pre-Seed ($8.0M, Feb 2026). Key investors include Sorenson Capital (lead), Atomic, Next Wave Capital.
- Founded
- 2022
- Headquarters
- New York, United States
- Team size
- 10-50
- Total funding
- $8.0M
Value proposition
Offers three hiring modes (self-serve Platform, candidate batches, Full Search with a dedicated recruiter) so teams can run recruiting themselves or have Elly's recruiters + AI fill roles end-to-end at roughly half typical agency cost, while retaining search intelligence in the platform.
Products and solutions
Platform (self-serve) - AI application review, AI Interviewer, ATS for in-house teams ($5k/yr), Candidates - Outbound sourced/screened/scorecarded candidate batches ($10k), Full Search - Expert recruiter + AI end-to-end search at 10% first-year salary, AI Sourcer - Conversational sourcing, ranking, and multi-step email/LinkedIn outreach (launched June 2026), AI Interviewer - Structured AI screening interviews with scoring, Ask Elly / Hiring Intelligence - Search interviews, feedback, and decisions with retained context, AI Pipeline Creation & Application Review, AI Notetaking - Real-time transcription and summarization, Hiring stack integrations & Warden AI bias assurance
Unique value
Unlike ATS tools or traditional agencies that start every search from zero, Elly pairs expert recruiters with AI on each search and retains candidates, interview feedback, and company preferences so every subsequent hire compounds prior learning—positioned as ~2x faster and ~50% cheaper than agencies.
Target customer
Early-stage and growth companies (founder-led or in-house TA) needing self-serve AI recruiting tools and/or end-to-end Full Search as a lower-cost alternative to traditional recruiting agencies
Industries served
Technology, Construction, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Hospitality, Enterprise Software, Human Resources Technology
Technology advantage
Unifies AI Sourcer, AI Interviewer, ATS, and retained hiring intelligence with optional forward-deployed expert recruiters; compounding candidate/decision memory across searches; Warden AI continuous bias assurance; hybrid software + services GTM (Platform / Candidates / Full Search).
How they differentiate
Builds recruiting around humans plus AI rather than replacing recruiters: every Full Search is worked jointly by an expert recruiter and AI, while the platform keeps compounding institutional hiring memory—competing with both legacy ATS stacks and traditional recruiting agencies on speed and cost.
Main competitors
Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever
Key partnerships
Sorenson Capital (lead investor, board representation), Atomic (strategic investor / venture studio), Next Wave Capital (strategic investor), Warden AI (continuous third-party AI bias auditing & assurance for AI Candidate Matching)
Notable customers
Harris Williams, Flaherty & Collins Properties, Claris Health, CHOC Children's, Montage, Garner, SRI
Major milestones
Company founded in 2022 as Tabbed.ai, Rebranded to Elly.ai in September 2024, Public platform launch with $8M pre-seed funding in February 2026, Rob Rueckert (Sorenson Capital partner) joined board of directors, Created as part of Atomic venture studio
Growth metrics
Claims Full Search moves ~2x faster than traditional agencies at ~50% lower cost; earlier PR cited up to 1h45m saved per candidate on write-ups, 3–5h/week on notes/follow-ups, 5–10h/week replacing live screens; customer logos across finance, healthcare, real estate, and tech
Market positioning
AI-native recruiting challenger offering self-serve hiring software plus recruiter-assisted Full Search as an agency alternative (~2x faster, ~50% lower cost), primarily for early-stage and growth companies
Geographic focus
United States (New York-based), serving customers across technology, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality sectors globally
Patents and IP
No registered patents disclosed as of latest update
About Kristen Habacht
15+ years in SaaS sales leadership. Former VP of Sales at Trello (first revenue hire, led through Atlassian acquisition), Global Head of EDR Sales at Atlassian, CRO at Typeform, and President/COO/CRO at Shogun. Scaled product-led growth organizations through multiple funding rounds including Series C.
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Official website: https://www.elly.ai