I don't know where the company is located, but there are a lot of these types of companies in the Bay Area. Many startups have this mentality of "I will only hire the best" and pick Google-level interviews to weed out most people (mostly to appease their own ego). What they don't understand is that their company cannot pay a FAANG compensation, and the candidates that had obviously grinded leetcode/interview prep would probably have no problem getting a FAANG job. When their offer inevitably falls through, then they complain about there's not enough talent nowadays.