How Three Young Nigerian Founders Are Redefining Global Job Search
Job hunting today often feels like shouting into the void. Candidates send application after application, repeatedly filling out the same information across endless portals, only to be met with silence or automated rejection emails.
Three young Nigerian founders decided it didn’t have to be this way.
Oluwapelumi Dada, David Alade, and Daniel Ajayi, the minds behind Sorce, a mobile-first talent platform designed to eliminate friction from job applications and rethink how candidates and employers connect. Instead of resumes and lengthy forms, Sorce allows candidates to create a single dynamic profile that reflects their skills, experience, and preferences. From there, they can signal interest in roles instantly. An AI agent works behind the scenes to match candidates with relevant opportunities, surface stronger signals to employers, and reduce the noise that buries qualified talent in traditional hiring systems.
The Early Journey of Sorce
Sorce’s story begins far from Silicon Valley. The founders grew up in Lagos, drawn to technology from an early age.
For Dada, now Sorce’s CEO, that journey started at home. His mother, Temitayo Dada, brought home a computer when he was young, unknowingly setting him on a path that would shape his future. His father, Kehinde Dada, a graphic designer, taught him the fundamentals of visual design. By age 11, Dada was learning Java. Although he paused coding during secondary school, he returned to it in 11th grade, building websites with Wix and teaching himself HTML.
Still, Dada knew he couldn’t build Sorce alone. He initially developed the product himself, but competing with platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed required a team with shared urgency and ambition.
Daniel Ajayi was the first to join, taking ownership of the AI infrastructure that now powers the platform. According to Dada, the alignment was immediate. What began as a working relationship soon became a long-term partnership.
David Alade later joined as the third co-founder. He and Dada connected on X and decided to meet in person. Within seven weeks, the team had built a working product ready for launch.
A Chance Encounter
Sorce gained early visibility through an unexpected encounter in San Francisco. Dada spotted Sam Parr, entrepreneur and co-host of the My First Million podcast, jogging through the city. He followed him and pitched Sorce in person.
Parr later shared the story on X, highlighting Dada’s initiative and his background as a Nigerian student juggling internships at Tesla and Dell while building a startup. He encouraged people to work with and support Dada. The post generated roughly 1.7 million views and brought immediate attention to Sorce. Soon after, Founders Inc., a startup community, early-stage investor, and co-building lab based in San Francisco became the company’s first institutional backer.
Launching to Half a Million Users
Sorce officially launched in August 2024 under its original name, Swype. A launch post on X attracted about 1.5 million views, kick-starting adoption. Since then, the platform has grown to nearly 500,000 users across most countries globally.
Users have logged over 20 million swipes. Most are left swipes, which Dada says reflects intentional decision-making rather than mass-applying. More notably, candidates using Sorce have received interview invitations from over 150 companies, including OpenAI, Nvidia, Coca-Cola, Visa, Mitsubishi, and Samsung. For a startup built by college-age founders, the list helped establish early credibility with both users and investors.
Acceptance into Y-Combinator
Despite the momentum, the founders never assumed Y-Combinator was within reach. They had missed the accelerator’s Fall 2025 application deadline, an oversight that would have ended the journey for many teams. They applied anyway.
One evening, the founders received an unexpected email from David Lieb, creator of Google Photos and a General Partner at Y-Combinator, asking to speak with them. During a short call, Lieb informed them that they had just been accepted into YC.
Weeks later, Dada shared the milestone publicly on X. The decision reflected the strength of what the team had built.
Y-Combinator rarely bends its rules, but Sorce’s rapid traction, clear value proposition, and proven execution made the opportunity difficult to ignore.
Talent Hired Through the Product
Today, Sorce operates with a six-person team, one Dada describes as “a cracked team.” Notably, one hire came through Sorce itself.
Matthew Trent, a Canada-based intern, discovered the company on the platform and later joined the team. He went on to overhaul Sorce’s search system. Instead of relying on keyword matching, the platform now interprets intent and meaning. A search for someone who communicates and tells stories, for example, can surface journalism roles even if those exact words aren’t used.
The change required analysing millions of job listings to understand context rather than phrasing. The impact of Sorce was immediate: user engagement doubled after launch.
The Monetisation Question
Despite strong growth and rising attention, monetisation has been more complex. Like many AI-driven startups, Sorce has had to rethink when and how to generate revenue.
The company initially tested a consumer-paid model, similar to dating apps, where users paid to access job swipes. That model has since been dropped, and the platform is now fully free.
Dada says the shift came after the team realised they were prioritising early revenue over long-term scale. Instead, they chose to focus on user growth, believing employer value would follow.
For similar reasons, Sorce paused its employer-facing recruitment service, which charged a percentage of a hired candidate’s salary. At the time, the platform’s user base was still too small to guarantee consistent hiring outcomes, the team felt.
That decision wasn’t due to a lack of traction. Dada notes the company generated meaningful revenue during testing.
Taking on the Giants
Dada is open about his ambition. He wants Sorce to become the world’s leading job platform. Today, that space is dominated by LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster.
Sorce is still far from that scale. LinkedIn has over a billion users, while Indeed attracts hundreds of millions of visitors monthly. Still, early signals are encouraging. For the founders, appearing alongside long-established platforms was validation that their approach resonated.
Their strategy draws from proven playbooks. Dada often references Indeed’s global aggregation model and Duolingo’s relentless product optimisation as inspiration. Sorce aims to aggregate jobs globally, while also building an AI agent capable of navigating millions of application systems.
Marketing has also played a role. Ajayi, Sorce’s lead iOS engineer, is also a skilled short-form content creator, helping grow the company’s Instagram following to over 71,000 users organically.
The Road Ahead
Executing this vision requires capital, and Sorce has attracted strong backing. Investors include Founders Inc., Y-Combinator, and angel investors such as Opeyemi Awoyemi, co-founder of Jobberman, and Adewale Yusuf, founder ALT of School Africa. The company has not disclosed total funding, but Dada says a new announcement is expected shortly.
At its core, Sorce’s appeal lies in how dramatically it reduces the effort required to apply for jobs. That efficiency also raises broader questions about hiring quality and how employers adapt to faster, AI-assisted workflows.The company’s momentum and investor confidence suggest Sorce is a startup worth watching.
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