Firstwork Lands $15M Series A From Earlybird to Get Frontline Hires Cleared and Working Before Day One
Firstwork Vardhan Kapoor (CEO) and Shubham Choudhary (CTO)
Image credit: Firstwork
Firstwork, a Y Combinator alumnus that builds AI agents for frontline workforce operations, has raised a $15 million Series A led by Earlybird Venture Capital. Legion VC and Deel Ventures joined the round, together with existing investors Gradient and Y Combinator. The raise takes the company's total funding to $20 million.
The New York‑based company says more than 150,000 frontline workers now start work through its platform each month. It plans to use the new funding to grow its applied AI, AI research, engineering and go‑to‑market teams, expand across the United States and Europe, and extend its agents into more parts of frontline workforce operations.
Firstwork focuses on the period between a job offer and an employee's first shift, a stage at which many people hired for frontline roles do not follow through. Its agents handle document verification, right‑to‑work and background checks, training coordination and follow‑up with workers.
The platform connects to a customer's existing HR, payroll and screening software. Its autonomous agents help move candidates from application to first shift, manage ongoing compliance and follow up after shifts to spot problems before employees leave. Customers decide how the agents deal with compliance rules.
Firstwork describes its product as forward‑deployed AI agents that automate workforce operations inside a company's existing systems. Its customers operate in staffing, logistics, delivery, care, retail and light industrial work, with other users in hospitality, healthcare and construction.
Firstwork was founded in 2024 by Vardhan Kapoor and Shubham Choudhary and went through Y Combinator's Summer 2024 batch. It raised a $5 million seed round in early 2025 led by Gradient, with participation from Y Combinator, SOMA Capital, 468 Capital, Houghton Street Ventures and angel investors from Deel and Job&Talent. At the time, the company said its platform could cut onboarding time by more than 75 percent.
Frontline hiring involves high volumes, fast turnover and a long list of checks before someone can start. Staffing agencies and employers must collect identity documents, confirm the right to work, run background screening, schedule training and keep records current.
Firstwork's agents run those steps for each hire and follow up with the worker directly. After the first shift, they continue checking in so that problems can be flagged before the employee leaves.
The Series A will pay for hiring across applied AI, AI research, engineering and go‑to‑market roles, and for expansion in the US and Europe. The company also plans to extend the agents beyond onboarding into other workforce operations, such as ongoing compliance and engagement.
Applied AI companies that put agents to work inside business processes have drawn growing investment this year. Last week, Intuit agreed to buy the British startup Sequence, whose AI agents automate billing and revenue tasks for finance teams.
Within HR technology, Deel, which has an investment arm taking part in this round, sells tools for hiring and paying workers across borders, and its leadership were angel investors in Firstwork's seed round.
Firstwork has not disclosed pricing, its valuation or customer names in the announcement.
Topics
Sources
Stay informed
Startup news in your inbox
Get important funding rounds, founder stories, and startup updates.
No spam - only important startup updates.
Comments
Text only. No links or images.
No comments yet.
