In a milestone moment for diversity in tech, Alexandra Chirica, a Romanian-British entrepreneur, has secured £300K in pre-seed funding to advance her HRtech startup, Recfindr. The London-based company is poised to disrupt the recruitment landscape by bridging the gap between employers and boutique recruitment agencies. The round was led by SFC Capital, the UK’s leading SEIS fund for innovative companies (which recently also invested in Laennec AI and Magic AI). A number of high-profile angel investors, including Ezequiel Canestrari, the European COO of Clearbank, also backed the company. This is a milestone achieved by the company at a time when only 2% of VC funding is claimed to be channelled into female and ethnic minority founders.
The funding from the pre-seed round will be used to hire engineering talent to further develop the platform, and to invest in marketing and sales.
The problem Recfindr solves
The UK boasts over 30,000 recruitment agencies, with 80% operating as boutique firms of fewer than 10 employees. Yet hiring managers often bypass these specialised agencies, defaulting to large corporate recruiters. This is due to the time and effort required to vet and onboard smaller agencies—a mismatch that stifles efficiency and limits access to niche talent pools.
This inefficiency is particularly problematic in high-demand sectors such as fintech, AI, biotech, and healthcare, where finding highly specialised talent is critical.
Recfindr bridges the gap between employers and boutique recruitment agencies, addressing industry pain points with innovative tools and a data-driven approach.
With the £300K funding, the company plans to:
- Expand its engineering team
- Enhance its platform with new features
- Invest in marketing and sales to reach a broader audience
Impacting a £36B market
Recfindr was founded by Alexandra Chirica who spent six years working in the recruitment industry in 2022. It is an all-in-one platform transforming how employers manage and collaborate with recruitment agencies. Designed with seamless ATS integrations in mind, Recfindr empowers hiring teams to simplify agency procurement, streamline legal contracts, and monitor key performance metrics, such as time-to-hire and placement success rates.
With a focus on transparency and efficiency, the startup enables employers to manage their recruitment suppliers effortlessly, centralise communication, and track ongoing progress – all in one place.
By connecting hiring managers to boutique recruitment firms, Recfindr is reducing the time hiring managers take to fill these urgent roles by 50%. Considering fintech vacancies are surging, the platform offers an immediate process change that will allow companies to recruit the best talent as they scale. Already, the company is having an impact on a market worth £36 billion.
Over 160 recruitment agencies have signed up to the platform to connect with hiring managers.
Alexandra Chirica, founder of Recfindr, commented, “The UK is home to some of the world’s best recruiters and recruitment agencies. However, the market is deeply fragmented and I know how hard it is for boutique recruiters to get noticed by large clients. But we need more specialist recruiters to support hiring managers in fast-growth industries. You wouldn’t hire a generalist to perform complex surgery, or defend you in court or build the software for your company. And yet we continue to hire generalist recruiters. Recfindr gives the power to hiring managers and allows them to access the specialists they need, whilst managing the process in one simple platform.”
Ed Stevenson, Investment Executive at SFC Capital, added, “The high number of vacancies in sectors such as fintech shows that new approaches in recruitment are required to meet the demands of the UK’s fastest growing industries. Recfindr is the perfect example of an HR Tech startup that is empowering hiring managers to make better hiring decisions faster, accelerating their scale trajectory in the process. Alexandra is a founder who combines deep industry knowledge with real ambition and commitment. We are delighted to have invested in Recfindr and have every confidence in the company’s future success.”
As fintech vacancies surge and the demand for niche talent grows, Recfindr is proving to be a vital tool for companies aiming to scale efficiently while maintaining access to the best talent.
Could this innovative HRtech solution set a new standard in recruitment? All eyes are on Recfindr as it transforms hiring for the digital age.
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