Technology Company Humanly Wins Kings Capitalize 2020 Contest

Source: Sacramento Business Journal, Mark Anderson
Photo: (L to R) Humanly Chief Technology Officer Bryan Leptich, CEO Prem Kumar and co-founder Andrew Gardner. Humanly recently won the $10,000 cash prize in the Sacramento Kings 2020 Capitalize contest. (COURTESY OF HUMANLY)

Startup Humanly has won the $10,000 cash prize in the Sacramento Kings 2020 Capitalize contest.

Humanly, which helps companies screen job candidates using artificial intelligence, earlier this year was accepted into the prestigious accelerator Y Combinator.

“This has been such a cool platform to have the exposure of the Kings,” said Humanly co-founder Andrew Gardner, in a phone interview, adding that the contest has offered the company a lot of business-to-business exposure.

Humanly was already a remote company, so Covid-19 didn’t cause much of a disruption for its 10-person workforce, he said.

The company is now targeting different industries, however. The company previously worked mostly with hospitality companies for its candidate screening services, but that industry has largely stopped hiring since the pandemic, he said.

Humanly is now focusing on industries that are still hiring. Many companies have scaled back their recruiting departments, which presents the technology company with more opportunities. “They are having to do more with less,” Gardner said.

The company, which is based in Sacramento and Seattle, raised $500,000 this winter from seed investors to scale up growth of its hiring platform.

In July, the Kings relaunched the 2020 Capitalize business pitch competition after it was stalled in March because of pandemic shutdowns. The contest, in its fifth year, is styled as a March Madness tournament for emerging technology businesses.

Judges for the business competition had narrowed the field to the “final four” in March, just before Covid-19 hit.

In addition to Humanly, the other final four companies in the contest included:

Drinjk Wines, a membership group for single-serve wine.

Sama Learning, a virtual learning environment for STEM courses.

Sparck, an employee engagement improvement app.

Humanly helps companies screen job candidates using artificial intelligence.

“This fifth year of the competition has continued to showcase the new and exciting ideas and business models developing throughout our area,” said John Rinehart, Kings president of business operations.

Humanly’s platform engages job applicants with broad questions that help hiring managers see more than just details on a resume, Gardner said in an earlier interview with the Sacramento Business Journal.

By filtering through many candidates, Humanly allows hiring managers to spend more time vetting the candidates who are the most qualified, he said.

The program also remembers candidates, and it can track them as they make progress, such as when they earn a necessary license or degree.

Humanly has competed in some of the bigger tech pitches locally. It won third place at the 2019 Big Bang Business Competition put on by the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, and Gardner made it into the final 16 of the 2019 Sacramento Kings Capitalize contest with what was at the time just a concept. The company went full time in August of last year.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2020/08/05/humanly-wins-kings-capitalize-contest