[Funding] Apna raises $70M in Series B round from Insight Partners and Tiger Global

Homegrown networking and jobs platform, Apna has raised a $70 million Series B round. Insight Partners and Tiger Global led the round. It also saw the participation from existing investors - Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed India, Greenoaks Capital and Rocketship VC. With this investment, Apna has now raised over $90 million. The platform now values at $570 million; within 16 months of product launch.

"We have been incredibly impressed with Apna's stellar growth over the last year. They have built the market-leading platform for India's workforce to establish digital professional identity, network, access skills training, and find high-quality jobs. Employers are engaging with Apna at a rapid pace to help find high-quality talent with low friction which is leading to best in class customer satisfaction scores. We believe that our investment will enable Apna to continue their steep growth trajectory, scale up their operations, and improve access to opportunities for India's workforce," said Nikhil Sachdev, Managing Director, Insight Partners.

The company aims to use the proceeds to strengthen its presence in existing cities. It further aims to expand pan-India over the next 6 months to help restart India's economy from the COVID-19 pandemic. The team plans to double down on their edtech platform for skilling. It will continue to invest in hiring exceptional talent and building world-class engineering and product capabilities. Additionally, Apna plans to expand to high potential international markets such as Southeast Asia and the United States in the coming year.

"At Apna, we are determined to take a fresh approach towards solving employment and skilling challenges for billions. Over the last month itself, Apna has facilitated more than 15 million job interviews and work-related conversations. Users have helped each other to start a business, find a gig or learn a new skill. We are still in the early stages of solving the problem and are excited to continue on this journey with the backing of our new partners," stated Nirmit Parikh, Founder & CEO, Apna.

About Apna

The year-old startup aims to connect people to opportunities with its tech-driven approach. It aims to harness the power of communities and enable access to better jobs and entrepreneurship for its users. "This has been especially crucial in a pandemic year," the company said in a statement. "We have seen severe disruption to the labour markets due to intermittent lockdowns."

Today, the app comprises 60+ communities for skilled professionals like carpenters, painters, field sales agents and many others. The app allows users to access local job opportunities, network with peers, practise for interviews, share their accomplishments and gain new skills.