To give best solutions on job and skill development, Apna has tied up with entities including UNICEF, Yuwaah, National Skill Development Corporation, Akzonobel, and Ministry of Minorities Affairs of India.
Apna, India’s market leading professional networking platform, has finally obtained the status of a ‘unicorn’ with the funds valuing $100 million raised by Tiger Global.
The Series C round of funding, which was launched after $70 million worth funding in Series B, witnessed the participation of Insight Partners, Maverick Ventures, Owl Ventures, and GSV Ventures, besides Tiger Global. The round successfully induced Apna with $1.1 billion of funds.
Apna’s growth curve has gone up remarkably, thereby magnifying its market valuation from $570 million to $1.1 billion within a few months. So much so, the platform is regulating 18 interviews a month.
The company shared that it will utilize the funds in expanding its business operations in the current 28 cities as well as to expand it beyond the territorial boundaries of the country. The platform aims to multiply its functions for better user experience and unlock its potential by stepping the company’s foot in the edtech upskilling segment which is expected to get augmented soon as the company is tied up with Owl Ventures, largest venture firm piloting education technology-based services. In order to elevate and diversify the company’s operations, it is also sketching out plans to develop engineering and product potential.
In this view, Apna CEO and Founder, Nirmit Parikh said, “Apna has a deep social purpose, and is committed to discovery and creation of opportunities to enhance a billion livehoods, across geographies. With the continued support of our partners, we aim to accelerate our journey of ‘solving for the world’.”
Managing Director of Owl Ventures, Amit Patel commented on the platform’s potential and how it can help even more individuals through the advanced upskilling and networking operations. He shared, “We believe that Apna has the potential to fundamentally shift how companies approach hiring skilled professionals and how these individuals approach networking and upskilling…By incorporating learning and upskilling offerings to drive strong outcomes for its user communities, Apna is building an end-to-end solution that has the potential to help individuals over the course of their career and not just in a single interaction. The repeated interaction and trust they are building on their platform can profoundly impact not just India but the global talent ecosystem.”This online professional networking platform is serving more than one crore users with more than fifty lakh of job opportunities. Some of its renowned customers include Zomato, Urban Company, BYJU’s, Burger King, Bharti AXA, PhonePe, Teamlease, Delhivery, and G4S Global. In order to serve its users with best solutions on job and skill development, it has tied up with various entities including UNICEF, Yuwaah, National Skill Development Corporation, Akzonobel, and the Ministry of Minority Affairs of India. The job platform has aided numerous candidates amid the pandemic outbreak where people found it difficult to land on jobs. It connects the employers looking for hiring potential individuals with the candidates having required skills. Commenting on Apna’s marketplace model, Griffin Schroeder, partner Tiger Global said, “Apna’s viral adoption is driven by a novel social and interactive approach to connecting employers with job seekers. We expect job seekers in search of meaningful connections and vetted opportunities to drive Apna’s continued explosive growth across India-and the world.”
