Millions of migrant workers and blue and grey collar workers in India, hailing from small villages and towns travel to Indian cities with a shirt on their back and a small dream. To make it.
Enter Covid-19.
They can’t step out of their house and have to use the internet for the first time to connect with employers. In comes Apna, which was founded in 2019 by Nimrit Parekh, a man with a whole lot of experience and drive.
You can use LinkedIn to display your resume, make connections, search for jobs, etc. It is the perfect social networking platform for white-collar workers. But for non-English speaking and non-affluent Indians, a resume, the most basic but essential component to landing a job, was a foreign concept. The Internet as a whole was foreign.
Apna simplified the process and created a non-formalized approach to jobs for both employers and workers which not just attracted users but also investors. It created communities and included local languages in the platform.
Users enter their name, age, and skills to generate a virtual business card that’s then sent out to potential employers and its algorithms match candidates with the right employers.
The company claims that a hiring process is completed in less than 48 hours with candidates directly connecting with recruiters.
It offers training that helps candidates improve their interview and spoken English skills and provides these workers with a community where they can share notes, engage and learn from each other.
Apna has a considerable first-mover advantage but they have formed a network which is perhaps why the founder was so keen on peer-to-peer learning. He might believe strongly in it, sure, but it also helps fend off competition. You’re on Whatsapp because your friends are on Whatsapp, Telegram though safer was not able to attract enough traffic because continuing on Whatsapp was just more convenient.
It’s revolutionary and Apna has expanded to 28 cities in the last two months. It announced on Thursday that it has raised $100 million in a round led by Tiger Global. The new round, which was a Series C, valued Apna at $1.1 billion.
The startup has just recently begun to monetize and intend to begin their global expansion by early next year.
In a short span of 21 months, they have touched 16 million lives. And they don’t intend on stopping here.
Writer - Dyumna Madan
Editor - Priyam Kusundal
Graphic Designer - Angeline Saleh
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