Awign raises $15mn in Series B funding for expansion

Awign has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Bertelsmann India Investments and Amicus Capital Partners, along with Mynavi Corporation and existing investors - Unitus Ventures, and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF). Client Associates Investment Banking team was the exclusive financial advisor to the transaction.

Awign plans to deploy the raised funds in enhancing technological capabilities, expanding digital services into global markets, and bolstering supply and demand acquisitions. While the enterprise-focused gig platform will continue to penetrate further into its domestic market, it will also leverage India’s large pool of gig workers to solve problems for organizations across the globe.

In the last two years, Awign has witnessed an unparalleled 10x growth in revenues with the completion of 65 million+ tasks, a rising gig workforce of 1mn+ partners, and a rapid expansion in new revenue streams. The company has established trust in the enterprise-focused gig ecosystem with a stellar clientele including names like Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Group, Swiggy, Byju’s, Britannia, and Upgrade among others. Awign’s growth is backed by its unique tech-enabled solution which goes beyond traditional discovery and staffing platforms to optimize PnLs and execute core business functions for enterprises at scale through a distributed gig workforce.

Speaking on the fundraise, Annanya Sarthak, CEO and Co-founder, Awign said, “At Awign, we believe that any complex work across all skill levels can be configured and gigified into simpler tasks. We’re leading the gig work transformation in India through our proprietary no-code tech stack which enables end-to-end execution of work along with management of our gig partners' entire lifecycle. This, coupled with our outcome-based payout, quick TAT, and cost-effective solution has earned the trust of 100+ large-sized marquee clients.”

“The new funding will further enable us to strengthen our tech capabilities, and expand our demand and supply pool in both domestic and international geographies. While the average payouts for our gig partners have grown 2X in the last 24 months, the new funds will help us enable a larger pool of gig partners to find employment opportunities and earn their livelihoods in a sustainable way,” added Gurpreet Singh, CRO, and Co-founder, Awign.

Commenting on the investment, Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director at Bertelsmann India Investments said “In an era when India is reimagining the future of work, we see massive opportunity. Today, India’s gig economy is worth USD 20Bn with almost 8 million gig workers. Awign has pioneered enterprise-focused gig work solutions by addressing complex business requirements, through its network of 1 million + gig workers. We are excited to partner with Sarthak, Gurpreet & Praveen, creating success stories for enterprises with their unparalleled understanding of the market.”

Mahesh Parasuraman, Co-Founder & Partner at Amicus Capital India commented, “Awign solves a critical pain point for enterprises by digitizing and executing tasks in a cost-efficient manner. Their digital-first business model has scaled rapidly leveraging both technology and the growing population of gig workers. We have been tracking Awign’s growth for the last 18 months and are impressed by how the Founders have created a leadership position with their unique business model. We are excited to partner with them in their journey.”

Hidekazu Ito, Managing Director at Mynavi Solutions India commented, "Mynavi has been focusing on addressing and resolving challenges that India faces today, and our investment in Awign comes in line with its commitment to resolve the challenges in sectors of education and human resources. We believe that Mynavi's investment in Awign will amount to sustained growth and positive impact in the gig economy."

With rising demand for the gig economy across all skill levels, Awign launched ‘Awign Expert’ in 2021 to help enterprises hire high-skill talent on a contractual basis and manage the entire lifecycle of those professionals. Awign Expert has shown a steady growth-cum-performance trajectory with ~36% MoM growth since its launch last year.

Being the largest enterprise-focused gig platform in India, Awign boasts of its community of 1mn+ registered gig partners across 500+ cities and 12,000+ pin codes in India. In the next five years, Awign aims to increase its gig partner network to add 500,000+ annually active gig partners to achieve 300,000,000+ tasks.

The company has previously secured ~ $7.3 million in funding from the country’s top VCs such as Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Unitus Ventures, Lumis Partners, Work10M, Eagle10 Ventures, Blacksoil, and Stride Ventures.