# Qlay

> Qlay is a San Francisco-based AI hiring company that sources, vets, and shortlists remote engineering talent - notably from Vietnam and Africa - and pairs it with an AI Proctor that catches AI-assisted cheating during interviews and coding tests. Using eye-gaze tracking, speech analysis, a phone-as-second-camera setup, and process monitoring, Qlay aims to make technical hiring both fast (shortlists in about a week) and trustworthy in an era when candidates can quietly lean on tools like ChatGPT.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Tomofumi Nakata (Co-Founder & CEO), Tokumasa Yamashita (Co-Founder & COO/CTO)
- **Team size:** ~15 employees
- **Products:** Qlay AI Proctor, Qlay Global Engineer Hiring, AI-led Interviews & Assessments
- **Notable:** Raised $1.4M in 2025 from a syndicate of 12 investors led by Japanese and Asia-focused VCs., Built an AI proctor capable of detecting AI-assisted cheating via gaze tracking, speech analysis, and process monitoring., Reduced cheating incidents for clients immediately after deployment, per company statements.

## Products & services

- **Qlay AI Proctor** — An AI proctoring layer for remote interviews and coding tests that tracks eye gaze, analyzes speech patterns, turns a candidate's smartphone into a second side-angle camera, blocks tab/app switching, monitors suspicious processes (e.g. ChatGPT, Cluely), sends real-time cheating alerts, and produces a detailed report after each session.
- **Qlay Global Engineer Hiring** — A platform that sources, pre-vets, and shortlists top remote engineering candidates - with a focus on talent in Vietnam and Africa - using AI-led interviews and live coding tests, delivering a curated shortlist so companies can hire within about a week.
- **AI-led Interviews & Assessments** — Customizable, automated interviews and skill assessments with candidate transcripts, recordings, and automated evaluation reports for candidate management and comparison.

## Achievements

- Raised $1.4M in 2025 from a syndicate of 12 investors led by Japanese and Asia-focused VCs.
- Built an AI proctor capable of detecting AI-assisted cheating via gaze tracking, speech analysis, and process monitoring.
- Reduced cheating incidents for clients immediately after deployment, per company statements.
- Founders selected among Japanese entrepreneurs brought to the US ecosystem via JETRO programming.

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Announced $1.4M in funding from 12 investors including Global Brain, Digital Garage, Headline Asia and Z Venture Capital.
- **2025-08** — Doubled down on the AI Proctor product to detect AI-assisted cheating in remote interviews and coding tests.

## Links

- Website: https://qlay.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/qlay-ai
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2NJMDiAOFY
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qlay.ai/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qlay.technologies/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/qlay
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-03