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Lever
AcquiredYC S12YC Top CompanySan Francisco, US · Founded 2012 · Delaware corporation · 225 employees · 27 known investors
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Lever is a modern applicant tracking system (ATS) and recruiting CRM platform that combines candidate management, automation, and AI-powered tools to help companies attract, nurture, and hire top talent more efficiently.
Also known as Lever (company) · Lever, Inc. · LeverTRM
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S12)
Lever was founded in 2012 by Nate Smith, Brian Noguchi, Sarah Nham, Randal Truong, and Sarah Nahm.
Board
Investors · 27
How we know: Bling Capital's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · boxgroup.com · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Correlation Ventures's portfolio page · funding news · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Felicis Ventures's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: funding news · offering press articles · techcrunch.com · research · en.wikipedia.org · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Matrix's portfolio page · techcrunch.com · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Scale Venture Partners's portfolio page · board seat on SEC Form D · funding news · offering press articles · research · en.wikipedia.org · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Y Combinator directory · techcrunch.com · research · en.wikipedia.org · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: board seat on SEC Form D · Not right? Tell us
How we know: open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: techcrunch.com · research · en.wikipedia.org · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: techcrunch.com · research · en.wikipedia.org · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
Also in the syndicate · 6
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$69.1M disclosed across 2 of 8 rounds · 2012–2021
▶$50MraisedNov 2021 · 1 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Mia HegazyDirector
- Nathaniel SmithExecutive Officer, Director
- David HolladyExecutive Officer
- Stacey BishopDirector
- Fred WangDirector
- Dana StalderDirector
- Offering amount
- $50M
- Amount sold
- $50M
- First sale
- Nov 2021
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$19.1MraisedFeb 2016 · 7 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Stacey BishopDirector
- Sarah NahmExecutive Officer, Director
- Nathaniel SmithExecutive Officer, Director
- Dana StadlerDirector
- Offering amount
- $20M
- Amount sold
- $19.1M
- First sale
- Jan 2016
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2012
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Lever offers a recruiting software platform that unites an applicant tracking system (ATS) with candidate relationship management (CRM) functionality in a single product. The platform covers sourcing, application management, interview scheduling, collaboration with hiring managers, workflow automation, and measurement of hiring performance, with the stated aim of centralizing recruiting activity in one system and reducing manual administrative work.
The company positions artificial intelligence across the hiring journey rather than as separate add-ons. Advertised capabilities include AI screening and ranking of applicants by fit score with supporting context (role-specific experience, leadership signals, compensation considerations), automated follow-up and nurture sequences, auto-scheduling of interviews and generation of interview agendas and scorecard summaries, offer letter generation from templates, advanced analytics and reporting, and next-best-action recommendations. Lever also markets layered fraud-prevention safeguards that flag application signals such as identity mismatches and resume conflicts before candidates reach the hiring team.
Business model
Lever sells recruiting software to employers as a platform product covering applicant tracking, candidate relationship management, automation, and analytics, with integrations to other tools used by talent acquisition teams.
Traction
Lever cites thousands of customers across more than 20 industries. Named customer references on its site include NextGen Federal Systems, Enablecomp, Bisnow, and Emma Sleep GmbH. The company advertises outcomes such as faster time to hire, faster interview scheduling, and a larger volume of qualified applicants, though specific figures are not stated.
Latest developments
Lever publishes ongoing content around AI in hiring, including a podcast series featuring IBM and ProboTalent on AI strategy, governance, and hiring, a research report produced with The Hackett Group evaluating hiring technology, and survey-based research on candidate experience drawing on more than 1,500 job seekers.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market
Market position
Lever markets itself as a unified ATS-and-CRM platform and positions against point ATS vendors such as Greenhouse and Ashby, arguing that its automation, analytics, and AI features are native rather than delivered through add-ons. The company states it serves thousands of customers across more than 20 industries.
Technology
The platform embeds AI across the hiring workflow: automated candidate screening and ranking with fit scores and explanatory context, automated follow-ups and nurture sequences, automated interview scheduling and agenda/scorecard generation, template-driven offer letter creation, analytics, and fraud-signal detection on inbound applications. Lever describes these as native capabilities rather than add-on modules, alongside integrations with third-party recruiting tools.
Go-to-market
Small, mid-sized, and enterprise organizations scaling hiring, particularly talent acquisition and recruiting teams hiring across multiple departments or locations. Customers span more than 20 industries, including technology and software, professional and business services, retail, hospitality and consumer, manufacturing, energy and logistics, financial services, healthcare, and education and public sector.
Compiled by commissioned research from 5 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
The Lever mafia →6 people who came through Lever went on to found or lead other companies.
Related companies · 5
Companies working in the same space as Lever.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsWikipedia reports that in August 2022 Lever was acquired by Employ Inc. for an undisclosed amount; Y Combinator's profile lists news dated 2022-08-02 titled 'Lever Joins with Employ - Largest Talent Acquisition Suite Provider' and marks the company's status as Acquired.
Funding earmarked for talent analytics, top-of-funnel talent discovery, DEI capabilities, global expansion, R&D, and the technology partner ecosystem. Apax Digital principal Mia Hegazy joined the board of directors.
$50M source ↗
Announced as part of the Series D investment by the Apax Digital Fund.
Lever stated it added more than 100 technology partnerships and integrations during 2021, part of an ecosystem that Wikipedia describes as over 300 integrations.
Lever launched its first integrations in 2015, followed in 2016 by integrations with Connectifier, Entelo, Hired, Zenefits and others.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 2
corporate structureIn the news
▸Research sources · 5
primary sources listed
- Leverlever.co · web
- Lever Raises $50 Million in Series D Funding to Better Hiring Experiencesprnewswire.com · web
5 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Lever do?
- Lever is a recruiting software platform combining applicant tracking and candidate relationship management with AI-assisted hiring tools.
- Who founded Lever?
- Lever was founded by Nate Smith, Brian Noguchi, Sarah Nham, Randal Truong, Sarah Nahm in 2012.
- Who are Lever's investors?
- Lever's investors include Bling Capital, BoxGroup, Correlation Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Index Ventures, LocalGlobe, Matrix, Scale Venture Partners and 13 more.
- How much funding has Lever raised?
- Lever has disclosed $69.1M raised across 2 of its 8 known rounds.
- Where is Lever headquartered?
- Lever is headquartered in San Francisco, US.