AI startup founded by two Bangladeshi brothers raises over $30,000 in funding

AI startup founded by two Bangladeshi brothers raises over $30,000 in funding

An AI-based hiring startup, AgenticHire, founded by two Bangladeshi brothers, has raised more than $30,000 through accelerator programmes, competitions, grants, and institutional support, without giving up any equity in the company. Sabik Bin Sultan, a Class 11 student at BAF Shaheen College Kurmitola, serves as co-founder and CEO, while his brother Shafi Bin Sultan, a Class 12 student at St Joseph Higher Secondary School, Dhaka, is co-founder and COO.

The venture operates globally as an online-first company. AgenticHire is also co-founded by Haoyang Wu, a Grade 11 student at River Valley High School in Singapore, who serves as the company's CTO. The three co-founders come from Bangladesh and Singapore, while the wider founding team includes members from Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Wu joined the team after meeting the brothers during a startup accelerator bootcamp in Singapore.

Using the app, employers create a role-specific assessment and share a link with candidates, who can complete the interview on their own schedule. The platform then produces a structured hiring evidence brief covering a candidate's strengths and weaknesses along with an overall recommendation, while the final hiring decision remains with the employer. The startup currently follows a tiered subscription model, with a free plan offering five interviews, a starter plan costing $100 per month for 200 interviews and access to all features, and a custom enterprise plan for larger organisations.

The startup's funding journey has been based on non-dilutive support rather than a traditional investment round. Sabik Bin Sultan, co-founder and CEO, said, “The total combines program stipends and non-dilutive program capital from accelerator programs, including East Ventures' My First $1000, with institutional and banking partnerships and support involving Prime Bank, Bank Asia, Guardian Life Insurance, Sportify, Wavesparks, and the National Youth Council of Singapore.”

The startup began in December 2025 after the founders developed the idea during a founder-focused accelerator programme in Singapore. Sabik shared that the idea came from a problem they observed among early-stage technology startups, where founders or senior engineers often have to conduct numerous first-round screening calls before finding suitable candidates.

“Early-stage tech startups often do not have a dedicated HR or recruiting team. Instead, founders or senior engineers may conduct 20-30 first-round screening calls before even one qualified candidate reaches a technical interview,” Sabik said. “We created AgenticHire to remove that bottleneck by enabling AI to conduct the initial technical screen.”

According to the founders, the team first tested the problem by speaking with other early-stage tech founders they met through their own networks and accelerator programmes, including fellow founders and cohort-mates at the Young Founders Summit and founders they met through programmes and conferences such as TheFirst Spark and East Ventures, developing a minimum viable product, and refining it during the accelerator's mentorship phase before making the product available more broadly.

The team says the funding has mainly been used for product development, team operations, and participation in international accelerator programmes and conferences, with a portion set aside for the startup's global launch. Sabik added that no investor has taken equity in AgenticHire to date and that the company has not conducted a formal investment round. The funding has instead supported early product development, including development of the minimum viable product, team operations, and participation in international programmes.

The company is now focused on growing its customer base among early-stage technology startups and improving the product based on user feedback. The team is also exploring additional funding opportunities to support its growth, with expansion into new markets and team growth on its roadmap.

The wider founding team also includes Daniya Toxanova, head of marketing, from Kazakhstan; Apiwit Pasuwat, outreach head, from Thailand; Moka Sokhah, operations associate, from Cambodia; and Jessie Chu, product associate, from Malaysia.