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Although it may look like there’s no shortage of job seekers (Have you seen LinkedIn lately?), it turns out hiring top talent is just as tough for the recruiters themselves. Tough enough that Paraform, a platform that helps recruiters hire more efficiently, raised $40 million in a Series B round announced Wednesday.

“Solving a very difficult, painful, important problem—identifying that is the most important thing,” says Paraform’s CEO John Kim. “At the end of the day, whether these clients are as big as a Fortune 500 or a startup next door, they’re a business and they want to solve their problems. The more painful and valuable the problem is to solve, you can go to market.”

Take it from Kim. Since he and cofounder Jeffrey Li launched Paraform in 2022, its client roster has grown to include companies like Palantir, Rippling and the $29 billion (valuation) vibe-coding startup Cursor.

The startup landed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in December, and has now raised a total of $65 million. The latest round was led by Scale Venture Partners with participation from Felicis, A* Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures, among others.

What Paraform does for its clients is actually quite simple: When a company needs to hire top talent—often AI engineers in today’s market—it matches that company with independent or freelance recruiters best equipped to find the right candidate. Candidates apply through the recruiter, who then vets and submits them directly to the company.

But what makes this process any different for the recruiter? According to Paraform, the startup has tools that make it much easier for them to actually find the right candidate. This could look like their candidate matching system that solves having to sift through hundreds or thousands of applicants (powered, of course, by AI that’s actively studying patterns in what’s worked and what hasn’t). Or it could be their all-in-one workspace with automation tools to cut down on routine tasks such as, say, taking notes or scheduling interviews.

“We started as a marketplace company, but I think it’s much more than that,” Kim says. “I think we are an AI company and we’re solving a matchmaking problem.”

Startups that help hire tend to be popular with investors, especially in today’s job market where companies are seeking quality over quantity. Mercor, the Under 30 startup now valued at $10 billion, started off with a similar idea of automating the engineer hiring process for top companies like Meta, before it pivoted more drastically into data labelling. (Felicis invested in Mercor, too.)

But where Mercor was screening candidates with AI bots, Paraform is focused on keeping human recruiters in the mix. And a big reason for that, Kim and Li say, is that recruiters have insight to the kind of information that you can’t easily find on the internet.

Plus, Kim adds, “There is human touch that is really valuable, this trust and relationship aspect of it. There’s not that many important decisions you make in life: Getting married, buying a house, buying a car—getting a job.”

See you next week,

Zoya & Alex

The Under 30 Summit Is 30 Days Away

It’s almost here! For the first time ever, Forbes is bringing the Under 30 Summit to Phoenix, Arizona, April 19–22, 2026. Hear from an incredible lineup of voices—from supermodel Ashley Graham and actor Madelyn Cline to Citizen founder Andrew Frame—as we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Under 30 list. This is one you won’t want to miss.

Register today.

The World’s Youngest Billionaires

There are 35 billionaires in the world who are under 30—and 12 of them are self-made. Check out the list here.

Lister Lowdown

-Another AI unicorn in the house! Axiom, an “AI mathematician” startup that’s building models to solve complex mathematical questions and build artificial intelligence systems, has raised a $200 million Series A at a $1.6 billion valuation. The round was led by Menlo Ventures. Axiom was founded by Under 30 AI lister Carina Hong, making her one of the few unicorn founders who are women—perfect timing for Women’s History Month.

-SXSW held its annual pitch competition at the Texas business conference last week. And Sotira, a B2B platform that helps CPG brands and manufacturers monetize unsold or overstock inventory, won two awards. Founded by Under 30 alum Amrita Bhasin, Sotira won for Sustainability, AgTech & Food and the Best In Show.

-Posh, an events marketing and ticketing platform, announced this week a $37 Million Series B led by FirstMark. The cofounders, Avante Price and Eli Taylor-Lemire, were the featured listers on last year’s Under 30 Marketing & Advertising Category. In a LinkedIn post, Price said the new money will go toward expanding their features, applying AI, and improving the consumer experience to make it even more personal.

On Our Radar

-Nvidia, the AI juggernaut that designs GPUs (or graphics processing units) needed for LLMs and other AI systems across the globe, announced this week a less tech-forward partnership. They’re teaming up with L’Oreal—yes, the cosmetics company—to create a “beauty and skin care AI engine” that supports R&D and product formulation. They initially kicked off the partnership in June 2025 to use AI for marketing and 3D product and packaging design. (Yahoo! Finance)

-Podcast legend and Forbes 2024 Under 30 cover star Alex Cooper has spent the last eight years building an audience for her hit interview show, Call Her Daddy. Now, she’s expanding beyond the podcast mic. She’s going all-in on her Unwell creative agency, which has seen success through its partnership with Google—they created a viral campaign to launch the Google Pixel 10 phone, and more are on the horizon. This week, Unwell was named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. (Fast Company)

-The new trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day just dropped, and it amassed about 15 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours (plus nearly 40 million more on Zendaya’s own Instagram post). The franchise film will be led by none other than IRL couple Zendaya and Tom Holland—making Holland the first actor to play Spider—Man in four films. It will be released on July 31, 2026. (Watch it on YouTube)