Apna, an application startup that helps Indian blue collar workers find work, has raised $ 70 million from global partners and Tiger insights with a $ 570 million rating.
Investors in India Sequoia Capital India, the capital of GreenOsaks, India Lightspeed and Rocketship VC participated in the B series funding round. The capital will help with increasing technology, the acquisition of talent and expansion to the US and Southeast Asia, startup based in Bangalore announces Wednesday.
India has been among the most devastated countries during Covid-19, even though the work is recovering in the third largest economic sign in Asia can turn. Apna, whose application lives just before a hit pandemic, has grown 50 times in the last 12 months thanks to unprecedented demand from segments such as e-commerce and health care.
Former Apple Inc. Executive Nirmit Parikh builds Apna for job seekers in margins and call it a kind of LinkedIn for non-English Indians, non-prosperous. The user enters their names, age, and skills to produce a virtual business card which is then sent to a potential employer.
“Things become very difficult because of the pandemic and we help millions employed,” Parikh, who is also the chief executive, said in a telephone interview. “Every job has a ripple effect by helping to put food on the table or help pay for children’s school fees, all of which are more important in Covid times.”
Apna, who launched its product about 16 months ago, said it has now collected more than $ 90 million in total. This application connects around 10 million job seekers such as shipping, painter, salon personnel and salons to more than 100,000 employers from Burger King to Amazon.com Inc. Now in 14 cities and available in six languages, each mixture of English and local tongues.
Apna also offers training. This application provides micro courses such as English conversation and conducting online job interviews. Algorithms smoothed recruitment by matching candidates with the right employer and giving them interview training.
When the candidate failed the interview, APNA asked the candidate to learn certain skills. It has categorized 4,000 skills, many of which are taught by partners or develop at home. This application accommodates communities for more than 60 professions such as carpentry, painting and sales, allowing users to access local networks, practice interviews and teach each other new skills.
“When you solve it for unemployment, you are solving for poverty, education, and health care,” Parikh said, which has an MBA from Stanford University.