BetterPlace, an HRtech startup for the blue-collar workforce, recently raised $3 Mn in Series A funding led by 3one4 Capital. This round of funding also saw the participation of Venture Highway and Unitus Ventures.
“We are focused on addressing the $12 Bn blue-collar ecosystem in the country. A significant part of the funds will be utilized to strengthen the existing ecosystem using frictionless solutions powered by AI and machine learning,” said Pravin Agarwala, co-founder and CEO of Betterplace.
The funds used will serve to add new solutions and expand the business in different verticals, for example, skilling, compliance and fintech services as well, in a bid to fortify its position as a single platform for the semi-formal workforce of India.
This is the third time that BetterPlace is benefiting from funds, having raised a total of $4 Mn (disclosed) since inception. The first round of funding happened in 2015 when it raised $1 Mn from Laitesh Katragadda, who was a Google India executive. In February 2016, the startup also raised about $1 Mn from Unitus Seed Fund.
“We are bullish about the growing informal economy in India, with the need to impact crores of people. The best way for social transformation is when people at the bottom of the pyramid can move up to the formal economy. BetterPlace has made tremendous progress since our last round, and we want to continue to be part of this success story,” said Will Poole, Co-founder and MP at Unitus Ventures.
Pravin Agarwala and Saurabh Tandon founded BetterPlace in 2015. The Bengaluru-based company, which caters B2B and B2C demographics, reported an Annual Run Rate (ARR) of $4 Mn, with a monthly growth of 13-15%. It has employed over 1.5 million people so far and is targeting to cross the bar of $15 Mn in net revenue by FY19-20. To achieve this goal, the founder are ready to scale their sales offices to Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
“If you go by the current order book and projected growth, the company is most likely to cross $15 Mn in net revenue over the next 18 months,” said co-founder, Saurabh Tandon.
BetterPlace provides employee lifecycle management services such as onboarding, background verification, training, attendance management and certification. It also helps its employees get re-skilled. Additionally, the company provides employees with benefits such as loans, insurance, and other financial services using their exclusive trust scoring.
“Nearly 450 Mn Indians work in the informal economy as security guards, drivers, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, in-house keeping, as domestic workers, construction workers, etc… They aspire to move to formal jobs, but are unable due to the lack of data and the trust deficit that comes with the demographics,” said Pravin.
Up to now, BetterPlace claims to have assisted clients in hiring over 1.5 Mn people with the right set of skills and credentials while providing over 1.2 Mn people with credit possibilities, thanks to its proprietary trust-scoring algorithm, which they claim add over 8,000 new individuals daily. BetterPlace caters several major industry-leading clients such as Flipkart, Ola, Swiggy, Accenture, TCS, BigBasket and more.
According to Pranav Rai, MP at 3one4 Capital, long-term investments in human resources and labor empowerment are now starting to bear their fruits in terms of productivity in the Indian landscape.
“At this point, such a value proposition can leverage real horizontal advantages and contribute even more powerfully to industry across the spectrum. BetterPlace is putting the labor force at the center of a universe of innovation, and helping make organizations of all sizes more people-centric,” he added.