The problem
Engineering teams lose hours to inconsistent interviews and can't reliably tell which candidates or contractors are actually strong
What they do
Outsourced live technical interviews and engineer skill benchmarks for enterprise hiring teams
Traction 600,000+ technical interviews run; enterprise customers incl. Citi, PayPal, Atlassian, Duolingo
Hiring trend
- Open roles
- 14
- Ops roles
- 3
- Headcount
- ~250-400
Headcount 317 → 249 since 2023, now flat (-1.3% YoY, Revelio Mar 2026); new postings ~31/mo vs 25/mo in 2025
Hiring in
- Remote (India)
- Remote (Mexico)
Glassdoor
3.4 ★ 64 reviews ↗Funding
- Last round
- $110M
- Stage
- Series C
- Date
- Oct 2021
Led by Tiger Global
- Hiring+1.514 open roles on the live job board (10–29 roles = +1.5)
- Funding recency0Series C · $110M, Oct 2021 (60 months ago): over 24 months = 0
- Traction+0.75Some growth: 600,000+ technical interviews run; enterprise customers incl. Citi, PayPal, Atlassian, Duolingo
- Red flags0Watch-outs noted below, none scored as a significant flag
- Total2.251.5 + 0 + 0.75 − 0 = 2.25 → Steady (1.5–3.49)
Distance (Half) is a separate read on how long the lead can last. It doesn't change the score.
Distance
Half · edge: hard to leave
The largest outsourced technical-interview provider, embedded in multi-year enterprise hiring programs (Citi, PayPal, Atlassian), with new contractor-quality and AI-readiness lines; exposed to AI interviewers and to cheaper assessment rivals like HackerRank, and the team is smaller than in 2023.
Sources: Karat: launches NextGen human-led, AI-enabled interviews (Dec 2025) ↗ · Karat: launches Partner Talent solution for contractor quality (Aug 2025) ↗ · GeekWire: Karat acquires Byteboard, third acquisition (Jan 2025) ↗
Watch-outs
Watch (not scored): headcount fell ~6% YoY into mid-2025 (Revelio low of 235) before stabilising; Apr 2026 Glassdoor review cites budget constraints shifting interview work to India; no priced round since the 2021 $1.1B Series C. 2023-Feb 2024 layoffs are outside the 24-month window.
Sources: Revelio Labs: Karat headcount 317 (2023) to 249 (Mar 2026), -6.2% YoY in Q1 2025 ↗ · Glassdoor: Karat Seattle reviews (Apr 2026 'budget issues' review) ↗ · Caplight: last round Series C Oct 2021, est. valuation $1.1B ↗
Last checked Oct 25, 2026