Vahan, a recruitment platform for blue-collar workers, has raised $10 million in a funding round led by existing investor Khosla Ventures.
The funds will be used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) recruitment technology and to expand its verticals, Vahan’s founder and chief executive Madhav Krishna said.
The round also saw participation from Y Combinator, US-based VC firm Gaingels, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, among others.
Vahan's ‘AI Recruiter’ conducts interviews in English and Hindi and will be expanded to eight major Indian languages and several hundred dialects within the next year.
According to Krishna, the platform facilitates the hiring of 25,000 people each month. "Today, we specialise in gig workers, but with the new funding, we are now expanding into other verticals such as manufacturing, warehousing, retail jobs and more," Krishna told ET.
Founded in 2016, Vahan is a technology-driven platform that helps blue-collar workers find jobs and employers the right candidate. To date, the company has placed more than 500,000 workers across more than 480 cities.
Vahan's clients include major gig-economy companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Zepto, Blinkit, Amazon, Rapido and Uber.
"We've grown about 3-4x over the last year, so growth has been very strong," he said. “These new verticals can be a lot larger than the delivery segment because while the delivery segment hires about five lakh people a month, there are millions and millions of people employed in these verticals. So, over time, they would perhaps even become the lion's share of our business.”
Vahan had last raised $8 million in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures.
“As an early supporter, I’ve seen first-hand how their innovative approach is redefining recruitment for the blue-collar workforce in India,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “Vahan stands out by not only reducing the effort in repetitive tasks but by also providing meaningful, scalable solutions that open doors for millions.”
The funds will be used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) recruitment technology and to expand its verticals, Vahan’s founder and chief executive Madhav Krishna said.
The round also saw participation from Y Combinator, US-based VC firm Gaingels, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, among others.
Vahan's ‘AI Recruiter’ conducts interviews in English and Hindi and will be expanded to eight major Indian languages and several hundred dialects within the next year.
According to Krishna, the platform facilitates the hiring of 25,000 people each month. "Today, we specialise in gig workers, but with the new funding, we are now expanding into other verticals such as manufacturing, warehousing, retail jobs and more," Krishna told ET.
Founded in 2016, Vahan is a technology-driven platform that helps blue-collar workers find jobs and employers the right candidate. To date, the company has placed more than 500,000 workers across more than 480 cities.
Vahan's clients include major gig-economy companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Zepto, Blinkit, Amazon, Rapido and Uber.
"We've grown about 3-4x over the last year, so growth has been very strong," he said. “These new verticals can be a lot larger than the delivery segment because while the delivery segment hires about five lakh people a month, there are millions and millions of people employed in these verticals. So, over time, they would perhaps even become the lion's share of our business.”
Vahan had last raised $8 million in a funding round led by Khosla Ventures.
“As an early supporter, I’ve seen first-hand how their innovative approach is redefining recruitment for the blue-collar workforce in India,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “Vahan stands out by not only reducing the effort in repetitive tasks but by also providing meaningful, scalable solutions that open doors for millions.”
