Seattle Company Acquires Charleston Startup Sprockets to Build "End-To-End AI Hiring Solution"
Charleston-based startup Sprockets, known for helping brands like McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A reduce turnover, has been acquired by Seattle-based Humanly. The move strengthens the Southeast’s growing HR tech scene and creates a powerful AI-driven hiring platform.
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McDonalds, Chick-fil-A, and Taco Bell are just some of the household name brands using Charleston-based startup Sprockets to help reduce employee turnover. Now, Sprockets is joining forces with another player in the HR space to create a “true end-to-end AI hiring solution.”
Humanly, a Seattle-based AI recruiter and talent CRM for both corporate and high-volume hiring needs, announced it is acquiring Sprockets. Indiana-based Qualifi and Boston-based HourWork (which Sprockets acquired in 2024), are also part of the acquisition.
The three-part acquisition adds “critical capabilities to Humanly’s platform, according to a company press release. Sprockets’ hiring platform and frontline manager app will help users build stronger talent pipelines, Qualifi’s automated phone and voice screening options will cut down talent recruiting time, and HourWork’s platform will expand Humanly’s conversational AI capabilities to help employers onboard, train, engage, and retain hourly workers.
The acquisition comes at a “pivotal time” for employers and the hourly workforce, which are both navigating what AI means for the hiring landscape, says Prem Kumar, CEO and Founder of Humanly. Kumar was at Microsoft for ten years, where he helped integrate LinkedIn’s data asset into Microsoft’s product suite after its acquisition. He said he sees similar potential in building the world’s largest database of “AI-interviewed” candidates through his new Y Combinator-based venture.
“Employers are being flooded with applicants driven by AI-enabled applying, while still grappling with high turnover and the urgent need to scale hiring without adding headcount. By bringing these companies together, we’re creating the most comprehensive AI recruiting platform on the market,” said Kumar. “This is more than just an acquisition…“It’s a roll-up strategy designed to redefine how millions of workers are hired, placed, and retained—using AI to power every step of the journey, from the first hello to onboarding and beyond.”
Sprockets Through The Years
South Carolina entrepreneur AJ Richichi (seen in featured photo) founded Sprockets in 2017 under its original name, Sentio.
After rebranding in 2021, Sprockets raised a $10 million Series A round in March 2022, led by Atlanta-based Forte Ventures. Other investors on Sprockets’ cap table include Venture South, New York-based Lytical Ventures, Virginia-based Blu Venture Investors, alongside California-based firms Healthy Ventures and Thayer Ventures.
The acquisition creates a larger hiring solution designed to address the changing needs of employees and employers alike.
“Humanly has been leading the industry with their ethical conversational AI for years, so I've naturally been tracking them,” Richichi told Hypepotamus. “Last year, Prem and I started talking seriously about the future of work and felt that the companies, combined with Qualifi, could be a market leader.”
Financial details around the acquisition were not disclosed. The full Sprockets team will stay on after joining forces with Humanly.
Sprockets serves a diverse range of industries that have staffing issues. That includes QSR (quick serve restaurants), hospitality, convenience stores, call centers, home health facilities, and grocery stores. The startup has been one of several venture-backed HR and hiring-related ventures to come out of the Southeast in recent years. Others include Atlanta-based Grayscale, Fairhope, Alabama-based Auditocity, Tampa-based Chattr, and Atlanta-based Illoominus.
