SG startup Fuku.AI unveils video interview tool “Fiona” for hiring
- ByStartupStory | November 30, 2025
Autonomous AI Interviewer Targets High-Volume SME Roles Across Asia With Bias-Free Screening
Singapore-headquartered Fuku.AI has launched Fiona, a fully autonomous AI-powered video interview agent designed to streamline early-stage hiring for fast-growing SMEs across Asia. The 10-minute video interviews feature a friendly, life-like avatar that conducts structured conversations, dynamically follows up on responses, and generates transparent evaluation reports—scoring candidates on strengths, weaknesses, communication style, and job fit. Fiona integrates seamlessly with ATS and HRIS platforms, autonomously reaching out to top matches from job postings while providing candidates with instant transcripts and personalized feedback, eliminating scheduling delays and manual screening biases.
Founded in 2024, Fuku.AI positions Fiona as a “co-worker” for busy hiring managers overwhelmed by high-volume roles in sales, engineering, back-office functions, and more. Businesses upload job descriptions, which Fiona auto-publishes to LinkedIn; applicants opt into pre-screening, receiving immediate reports recommending “proceed,” “hold,” or “reject.” Candidates benefit from free practice sessions: uploading resumes triggers tailored mock interviews with actionable insights, building confidence without cost.
CEO Kevin Gao emphasized fairness as core to Fiona’s design: “Every candidate gets the same structured experience, the same level of attention, and the same transparent evaluation.” Powered by advanced LLM orchestration, Fiona processes thousands of interviews daily with consistent scoring, turning days of filtering into minutes while reducing unconscious biases through objective, data-backed assessments.
End-To-End Workflow Revolutionizes SME Recruitment
Fiona’s four-step process redefines efficiency. First, users post jobs directly via the platform. Applicants submit resumes and choose AI screening, where Fiona’s avatar engages in natural dialogue—probing experience, skills, and cultural fit with adaptive follow-ups. Post-interview, summaries highlight key takeaways: verbatim transcripts, quantified scores, and clear next steps. Strong matches advance to human interviews, freeing recruiters for high-value decisions.
For talents, Fiona offers on-demand practice: resume uploads generate role-specific questions, complete with reports offering interview tips and performance gaps. This democratizes preparation, especially for underrepresented candidates in competitive Asian markets. Fuku.AI’s proprietary resume database—encompassing 20 million+ verified profiles across the Asia-Pacific, enriched with contact details—fuels proactive outreach, identifying passive talent without cold messaging drudgery.
The platform’s unified communication hub connects LinkedIn, email, and WhatsApp, keeping interactions contextual and compliant. Predictive hiring models analyze historical data, role needs, and team dynamics to forecast success, retention, and impact, elevating decisions beyond gut feel.
Tailored For Asia’s SME Hiring Realities
SMEs dominate Asia’s economy—over 97% of enterprises in Singapore, Indonesia, and India—but face acute talent shortages amid rapid digital transformation. Traditional recruiting agencies charge premiums unaffordable for scaling teams, while in-house efforts drown in applicant volumes. Fiona addresses this with SME-centric pricing (free trials available) and scalability: handling hundreds of interviews without quality drop.
Early adopters in legal, tech, manufacturing, gaming, and finance report 50% faster time-to-hire and 5+ high-quality profiles daily. One firm identified senior lawyers matching niche regulatory needs in under three days; another delivered tailored shortlists in 72 hours via predictive matching. CTO Kai Yang noted: “Fiona gives busy managers a warm, professional AI co-pilot that runs thousands of interviews reliably.”
Fuku.AI’s human-guided approach ensures enterprise-grade compliance—GDPR, PDPA, and local data laws—while emphasizing transparency. Candidates control their data, opting into evaluations with full visibility into scoring criteria from the start. This builds trust, reducing drop-off rates common in opaque processes.
Competitive Edge In Booming AI Recruitment Space
Fuku.AI enters a crowded yet fragmented market. Global players like HireVue and Paradox offer AI interviews but target Fortune 500s with complex integrations. Regional tools lag in multilingual support and SME affordability. Fiona differentiates via Asia-Pacific focus: handling dialects, cultural nuances, and high-context communication prevalent in sales-heavy roles.
Backed by a world-class team blending AI, recruiting, and growth expertise, Fuku.AI operates from 67 Ayer Rajah Crescent, serving clients continent-wide. Its mission—”matching human ability to its greatest use”—drives innovations like CV parsing outperforming Boolean search, in-platform business development for recruiters, and bias-mitigation algorithms trained on diverse datasets.
Recent news underscores momentum: responding to Singapore tech layoffs with scalable platforms, as covered by Straits Times. Values of trust, positive impact, velocity, and ownership guide rapid iteration, with Fiona as flagship amid agentic recruitment evolution.
Future Roadmap And Broader Impact
Fuku.AI plans expansions: deeper ATS integrations (Workable, Greenhouse), multilingual avatars for Bahasa, Hindi, and Thai, and advanced analytics forecasting team fit. Long-term, predictive models evolve into full talent pipelines, automating sourcing to onboarding.
Fiona empowers SMEs to compete for top talent without enterprise budgets, fostering inclusive hiring in Asia’s gig-to-formal shift. By reducing bias—e.g., standardizing evaluations across genders, ages, accents—it promotes meritocracy, addressing DEI gaps in high-growth sectors.
As AI reshapes work, Fuku.AI humanizes recruitment: accelerating matches while preserving empathy. Visit fuku.ai/fiona for demos or free trials—transforming high-volume hiring from bottleneck to superpower.
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
