Sequoia, Greenoaks lead funding in blue and grey-collar platform Apna.co

Apna.co, a recruitment and professional networking platform, has raised $12.5 million (around Rs 92 crore) in a fresh funding round from a clutch of existing investors.

The round in Bengaluru-based Apna.co has been led by Sequoia Capital India and Greenoaks Capital, with participation from Lightspeed India and Rocketship.vc, it said in a statement.

The fund infusion comes after Apna.co in September last year raised $8 million (around Rs 58 crore) in a Series A exercise. That round was led by Lightspeed India and Sequoia Capital India.

Apna.co, operated by Apnatime Tech Pvt Ltd, was set up in 2019 by Nimrit Parikh. The company says its platform helps blue and grey-collar workers access professional networking and skilling opportunities.

The firm claims it has witnessed significant growth since inception, with over six million users and more than 80,000 recruiters on its platform. The company says it has grown over 50 times in the last eight months alone.

The startup will use the capital raised in this fresh funding round to strengthen presence in existing markets, expand to new geographies, recruit talent, as well as build out engineering and product capabilities.

“Apna.co has taken a jobs-centric approach to upskilling that we are very excited about,” Lightspeed India partner Vaibhav Agarwal said.

The startup says it partners with companies including Zomato, Urban Company, and Kirloskar. Currently, the startup has a presence in seven regions including Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Ranchi.

According to VCCEdge, Apna.co in November 2019 raised $2 million (around Rs 14.3 crore) in a seed round from Sequoia India and Lightspeed. Other peers in the blue and grey-collar recruitment space include startups like Able Jobs, MyKaam and WorkIndia.