India has a huge blue-collar market with over 250 million employees, employed in delivery services, logistics, communication centers, etc. This number is increasing due to declining agricultural employment and the addition of 7-8 million new college graduates. Every year the workforce, of which 60% lack employment skills and eventually join the blue / gray-collar workforce.
“Blue-gray collar workers, despite their large numbers, are scattered across the country without consolidation points to support their employment,” said Madhav Krishna, Founder and CEO, Vahan, a Bangalore-based technology startup that assists companies in Zomato, Swiggy. , Flipkart, Uber, and Shadowfax hire blue-collar staff. “They (blue-gray collar workers) do not feel comfortable with technology because of their educational background. As a result, both large companies and booming startups face difficulties in hiring the right staff and maintaining a database of their front-line staff. ” According to him, one of the biggest challenges employers in the segment face is the problem of three-way matching, that is, finding the right intersection of what a job seeker wants, can do and what kind of job is available in the market. .
Vahan solves this problem through deep user perception, product design and data integration. It is utilizing machine learning to help blue-collar workers find jobs that match their skills. With the rapid transition period, the company has not only allowed employers to hire a large number of candidates but has also reduced the cost of hiring them by up to 30%. Krishna says, “We are focused on making products that are easy to use. Vahan’s chatbot ‘Mitra’ has been pivoted on WhatsApp which is ubiquitously popular in the SEC D&E segment. “Since more than 95% of Indian smartphone users already use WhatsApp, the solution does not require job seekers to download separate apps and allows them to apply for jobs in multiple languages,” he said. “Through their geotagging properties. It protects their middlemen from exploitation.”
Krishna was followed by Bahan, who, while feeding pedestrians outside his home in Delhi, realized that many people could not win the ‘Ovarian Lottery’, a term coined by Warren Buffett, which basically means where one’s birth is a huge determinant of one’s success in life. . Such people often live in poverty. Krishna decided to change this by giving opportunity to people who would not be able to access them on their own.
Vahan has witnessed rapid growth in adoption by both job seekers and employers. It employs 7,000 blue-collar workers per month in more than 200 cities across India and boasts clients such as Zomato, Uber, Flipkart, Swiggy, Rapido, Grofers, Dunzo and Shadowfax. At present, its products have more than four million users from more than 1,200 cities and already have over 100,000 people across India. “The company’s driving belief is that everyone is born with the same potential. What most people lack is the possibility of realizing that potential. Our platform is solving that problem, ”he added.
Vahan has raised capital in three rounds (Angel, Seed and Series A). The company’s 8 8 million Series A closed in September 2021 with Khosla leading the venture round. In view of its growth trajectory, Krishna claims that the vehicle is on track to become India’s largest blue-collar recruitment platform in the next one year. The startup is building the world’s largest and richest digital profile database of blue-collar workers and believes that a deep understanding of the company’s data resources and target audience will be used to unlock the vast value downstream.
It plans to help blue-collar workers gain access to financial services soon and even their next high-skilled opportunity so that they can enhance their careers and lives, thereby gaining control of their financial fortunes.
