Hunar AI Uses Voice to Hire and Train Frontline Workers
Founded by Krishna Khandelwal and Shantanu Bhattacharyya, the startup combines voice calls, WhatsApp and workforce software to help employers manage recruitment, onboarding and employee development.
Hunar AI is building a conversational AI platform for businesses that hire and manage frontline workers. Its tools support activities ranging from screening applicants and scheduling interviews to collecting joining documents, delivering training and gathering employee feedback.
The company focuses on workers who keep everyday operations running, including delivery partners, warehouse staff, retail associates and field employees. Its approach centres on conversations through familiar channels, helping employers stay in contact with people across locations and languages.
The startup announced a ₹40 crore Series A funding round on 19 October 2026, led by Blume Ventures. The investment supports further development of its technology and expansion into additional industries and markets.
The Founders Behind Hunar AI
Hunar was founded in 2022 by Krishna Khandelwal, its chief executive officer, and Shantanu Bhattacharyya, its chief technology officer.
The founders initially built a recruitment and staffing business. That work gave them direct experience of finding candidates, explaining roles, completing onboarding and understanding why applicants dropped out.
In its investment note, Blume Ventures describes this operational experience as an important part of Hunar’s development. The team accumulated knowledge about recruitment conversations and the steps required to move someone from initial interest to joining a workplace.
That background helps explain the company’s focus. Its software is designed around specific workforce tasks, with conversations connected to actions such as an assessment, interview booking or document request.
Why Frontline Hiring Needs Better Coordination
Hiring a frontline employee involves several linked steps. An interested applicant may still need information about the job, an interview appointment, help submitting documents and confirmation of when to report for work.
For a business recruiting across many branches or delivery hubs, these interactions can create a substantial coordination workload. A delay at one stage can leave both the applicant and the employer uncertain about what happens next.
Hunar’s opportunity is to make these processes easier to manage through repeated, relevant communication. A completed application becomes the starting point for a sequence of interactions that can continue after the employee joins.
From a business perspective, the value depends on whether those interactions produce useful results: completed applications, suitable candidates, successful joining and better support for workers.
How the Hunar AI Platform Works
The company offers two main products: Hunar Voice and Hunar Connect.
Hunar Voice allows businesses to configure conversational agents with an objective, instructions and relevant context. Teams can run calling campaigns and review analysis of the resulting conversations against their chosen criteria.
Hunar Connect brings workforce processes together across calls, WhatsApp and web interactions. Its published capabilities cover hiring, onboarding and ongoing employee engagement.
The products are intended to connect communication with the next step in a process. For example, an applicant’s response can help determine whether they need further screening, an interview slot or assistance completing joining requirements.
Hunar says its voice technology is designed for conversations involving regional speech, interruptions, pauses and background noise. These are product capabilities described by the company, whose performance will depend on the circumstances of each deployment.
Screening Candidates and Supporting Onboarding
Hunar’s hiring tools cover sourcing, screening, assessments and interview coordination. The company advertises support for 20-plus languages and dialects, allowing employers to communicate with applicants in a language they understand.
Its assessment features include structured scorecards based on an employer’s evaluation criteria. Scheduling tools can arrange appointments, manage changes and send reminders.
The onboarding offering then addresses the work between selection and joining. Its published functions include document collection, verification, offer letters and pre-joining communication.
| Workforce stage | Published platform functions |
|---|---|
| Applicant screening | Conversations to collect information and assess suitability |
| Interviews | Scheduling, rescheduling and reminders |
| Joining formalities | Document collection, verification and offer management |
| Pre-joining support | Check-ins, information and introductory training |
| Early employment | Role explanations, questions and follow-up conversations |
These functions tackle different points where a recruitment process can lose momentum. Their usefulness depends on accurate job information, clear employer requirements and timely resolution of issues that need further attention.
Training Workers Through Conversation
The training component extends Hunar’s role beyond recruitment.
According to its product description, employers can use conversational training to share product updates, explain processes and refresh workers’ understanding of policies. The offering includes short learning modules, role-play exercises and continuing assessments.
This could be useful for a retailer introducing a new product or a distributed team learning an updated operating procedure. Workers can receive information through familiar communication channels, while managers gain visibility into participation and learning gaps.
Hunar AI also offers employee check-in surveys and exit interviews. These are designed to gather feedback about workplace concerns, role clarity and reasons for leaving.
Collecting feedback is only one part of improving retention. The practical benefit comes when employers use the information to resolve problems, clarify expectations or improve training.
₹40 Crore Funding Supports the Next Phase
The Series A round included participation from Hyderabad Angels Fund, Together Fund, Seedstars and AVNM Ventures. Individual investors included PhysicsWallah co-founders Prateek Maheshwari and Alakh Pandey, alongside MediaMint co-founder Aditya Vuchi.
According to the funding announcement reported by The Economic Times, the round brought Hunar’s total funding to ₹65 crore.
The company plans to invest in AI infrastructure, product development, sales and market expansion. Its target customers include businesses in quick commerce, logistics, retail, financial services and healthcare.
In its own announcement, Hunar outlined a target of reaching five million conversations a day within nine months. That figure represents a growth ambition, rather than an achieved operating milestone.
Adoption and the Results That Matter
Hunar reported that its agents handled more than 15 million conversations in September 2026. This measures interactions, not the number of unique workers or completed hires.
Blume’s investment note lists customers including Swiggy, Delhivery, Blue Dart, Flipkart, Aditya Birla Capital and Tata Croma.
For employers, the more meaningful measures will include the cost of a successful hire, the proportion of selected applicants who join, training effectiveness and employee retention. High conversation volumes demonstrate activity; the commercial case depends on what that activity achieves.
Hunar’s next stage will test whether its experience in recruitment can support reliable AI services across more roles, languages and organisations. Its opportunity is to make workforce communication an effective part of everyday operations.
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