Vahan raises $8 million in funding round led by Khosla Ventures

Blue-collar jobs platform Vahan on Wednesday said it has raised USD 8 million (around Rs 59 crore) in a funding round led by existing investor Khosla Ventures.

The Series A round also saw participation from Airtel, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Verizon Media group CEO Guru Gowrappan (Group CEO, Verizon Media, former Harvard Management Company CFO Kevin Shannon, the startup said.

"These funds will allow Vahan to further scale its recruitment business and build new product offerings for its fast-growing customer base which comprises leading gig-economy companies and blue-collar workers," Vahan said in the statement.

The freshly infused funds will be utilised to grow the team.

"We are excited to deepen our partnership with Khosla Ventures. Their decision to double-down on our business further validates the multi-billion dollar opportunity we have in front of us. We will continue to leverage our deep expertise in building large businesses using technology to take the company to the next orbit of growth," Vahan founder and CEO Madhav Krishna said.

Vahan was previously backed by marquee names such as Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Airtel and many former and current Google and Flipkart executives.

"Our goal is to ensure that previously underserved blue-collar workers get access to opportunities across jobs, financial services and upskilling and our ambition is to make 1 billion placements over the next 10 years," Krishna said.

Founded in 2016, Vahan claims to recruit over 7,000 people across 200 cities every month and aims to become India's largest blue-collar recruitment platform in the next year.

Vahan's customers include leading gig-economy companies such as Zomato, Uber, Flipkart, Swiggy, Rapido, Grofers, Dunzo and Shadowfax.

"The blue-collar worker recruitment opportunity in India is large and growing, and Vahan's ability to leverage technology in building value for both workers and employers at scale is exciting. Vahan is well positioned to win this opportunity in India and beyond," Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla said.

According to a report by industry body Assocham, India's gig sector is expected to grow to USD 455 billion at a compounded annual growth rate of 17 per cent by 2024, and has the potential to grow at least 2 fold as compared to pre-pandemic estimates.