AI recruitment startup Hiremii listed on the ASX and its shares tanked

While plenty of investors wanted in on the ASX listing of tech-based labour hire and recruitment company, Hiremii, which raised $6 million at 20 cents a share in an oversubscribed IPO, it seems plenty also wanted out today.

The Perth-based company’s share price tanked more than 25% on the opening day of trade to close at 14.5 cents.

It was a sea of red for tech stocks in general today, with BNPL Afterpay (ASX: APT) among the hardest hit, falling nearly 9% to $89.

Hiremii (ASX: HMI) uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to digitise previously manual recruitment and onboarding processes, as well as pre-vetting and shortlisting candidates.

It has two core business components, Hiremii Recruitment Pty Ltd, a fixed fee recruitment business, charging $4500 for white collar roles and $1250 for blue collar positions; and Oncontractor, its recruitment and full-service labour hire business.

The five-year-old venture generated around A$6.2 million in revenue for FY20 (up 620% on FY19) and approximately A$3.5 million in revenue for the first half of FY21.

CEO Christopher Brophy said ahead of today’s listing on the ASX that: “Our successful IPO will provide us with the capital we need to aggressively progress our growth strategy as we further refine our technology platform and expand our team.”

The company’s founder, Conor O’Brien, is the company’s biggest shareholder with a 5.85% stake that started the day worth around $811,000 before losing more than $220,000 in value.

Hi Oncontractor co-founder, Alastair Haldane, who has the second largest stake at 5.4%, saw his small fortune suffer a similar fate.