Indian jobs platform and professional network, apna, has secured about $100 million in a series C funding led by Tiger Global. This takes apna’s total valuation up to $1.1 billion.
The platform has grown 125 times over the past 15 months and is currently conducting 18 million interviews a month. The Company is looking to use the funds to strengthen its presence in the 28 cities that it is currently operating in and also expand across the country by the end of 2021, helping the Indian economy grow in the process.
Nirmit Parikh, founder and CEO, apna, reiterates apna’s “deep social purpose” and “commitment to the discovery and creation of opportunities to enhance a billion livelihoods, across geographies.” Parikh is confident that with continued support from its partners, apna will “accelerate our journey of ‘solving for the world’.”
Many big names, including Zomato, Bharti AXA, Urban Company, BYJU’S, PhonePe, Burger King, Delhivery, Teamlease and G4S Global rely on apna for their urgent and critical hiring needs. In less than two years, the apna app has facilitated about 100 million interviews.
The team will now focus more on its edtech platform for skilling and invest in hiring exceptional talent and building world-class engineering and product capabilities. The app plans to venture into new markets, including the US, South East Asia, the Middle East & Africa, next year.
‘Made in India, for the world’, apna seeks to offer sustainable solutions to issues pertaining to unemployment, poverty and upskilling. apna’s job platform matches candidates with employers on the basis of their skills, experience and preferences. The app also comprises over 70 communities for skilled professionals, including carpenters, painters, telecallers, field sales agents, delivery personnel and others. apna communities have enabled users to grow their professional networks, upskill through peer learning and find gig opportunities. Its communities enabled 17 million peer-to-peer professional conversations in the past one month.
Founded in 2019, apna.co has partnered with organisations such as the National Skill Development Corporation, UNICEF Yuwaah, Truecaller, Akzonobel, and the Ministry of Minority Affairs of India, in their endeavour to provide better skilling and job opportunities to candidates.
Owl Ventures, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Maverick Ventures and GSV Ventures were the other participants in this Series C round.
