Startup Circle: How Awign Is Shaping the Gig Economy in 2022

According to the India Gig Economy Report by BCG and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, while identifying key trends shaping the future of jobs and the workforce, the Future of Work research project noted that gig participation is higher in developing countries. Several trends have emerged as a result of this development, including the emergence of new jobs and skills, widening gaps in available talent, changes in government regulation, and evolving attitudes toward work itself.

Only 1 to 4% of labor on labor-sharing platforms in mature markets such as the United States of America (USA), Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK), and Spain consider 'gig work' as their primary source of income, whereas 5 to 12% of workers in developing markets (including China, India, and Brazil) earn their primary income through digital platforms. Similarly, just over 10% of employees in the United States engage with gig platforms as a supplementary source of income, compared to roughly 30% of workers in developing markets such as China and India.

We can observe that before the arrival of COVID-19 in our nation, there was an influx of technology-based platforms. Despite being badly impacted by the pandemic, the gig economy has opened the path for an ecosystem that will see a race to the productivity and dependability of the gig workforce. This aided enterprises in experiencing a paradigm shift by integrating a 'New Mode of Operations' in their existing (conventional) business model, while also aiding in the creation of millions of job roles across the country.

Annanya Sarthak, Gurpreet Singh, and Praveen Kumar Sah co-founded Awign in the year 2016 and have become part of the Future of Work segment by creating a major impact in the formal employment ecosystem. Currently, the company serves more than 100+ organizations as customers, has a presence in more than 12,000+ pin codes across the country, and employs more than a million gig partners.

Tell us about the company and your offerings.

Awign means the removal of obstacles in Sanskrit and staying true to its name, we are committed to developing a unique model of commoditizing work that is revolutionizing how companies operate and scale up today.

We offer 8 core enterprise functions spanning across sectors including Assessment Industry, Media and entertainment, AI/ML Data Operations, Automotive, Electrical, Construction, FMCD, and many more. As part of the digital gigs, the company offers services ranging from tele-calling, online proctoring, content & data operations, and business development.

Awign also offers auditing, due diligence, exam invigilation, and last-mile delivery as part of the hyperlocal gigs. In addition, the company launched another business unit named Awign Expert in April 2021. Awign Expert helps businesses hire, assess, and manage high skilled contractual and gig talent across niche profiles of tech, marketing, finance, data science, and human resources.

We built a no-code tech platform, making us the pioneer to combine technology with the gig economy to solve end-to-end outcome-based execution, as well as discovery, deployment, and payroll management. We fulfill our customers' on-the-ground and digital work requirements through our network of over 1+ million registered gig partners who are skilled and trained.

Since its inception, Awign has grown to become a company with annual recurring revenue of over INR 100 crore while bridging the gap between what businesses want and what Indians can do. We have raised funding from marquee investors such as the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Unitus Ventures, Lumis Partners, Work10M, Eagle10 Ventures, Blacksoil, and Stride Ventures and are in the process of soon closing a large Series B equity transaction.

With Awign entering its 6th year, we have already established our presence in more than 12,000+ pin codes across the country and have registered gig partners of 1+ million on our platform.

Awign’s biggest differentiator is that in the land of various job boards and recruitment platforms (Flexi staffing and Job-Board Gig-Marketplace), Awign has established itself as the only platform commoditizing work for Enterprises. We have also mapped out to expand into new verticals such as SAAS, Collections, Retail Operations, and Merchandising, Warehousing & Mid-mile, Market Intel & Consumer Insights, Consumer Product Testing, Micro and Nano Influencer Marketing, and AI Operations, On-Demand Knowledge.

Awign has been counted among a growing number of startups operating in the broader human resources and performance management segment in the country. As a technology company, the sky being our limit, we are also in the planning stage to diversify into digital lines of business, including content operations and exam proctoring, in global markets such as the United States and the Middle East, to maintain a healthy mix of distant and hyperlocal work segments.

Tell us about the team

 Annanya Sarthak, Gurpreet Singh, and Praveen Kumar Sah, the co-founders and IIT Ropar grads, began working on Awign half a decade ago when the gig economy was still a relatively new idea in India. The co-founders had a vision of becoming India's largest tech-led gig work and workforce platform, with the goal of eliminating unemployment and underemployment in the country.

Although working at several well-known MNCs and start-ups, the three co-founders opted to take the risk and make their imprint in this emerging sector, and together they established this unique model of commoditizing work that is revolutionizing how companies operate and scale up today.

Annanya Sarthak (CEO and Co-founder) with his forward-thinking ability has identified and addressed key pain points of unemployment and underemployment through a tech-based solution - Awign. Awign as a concept has been helping to 'gigify' core enterprise activities and variablise large organisations' PnLs while allowing gig partners to learn and earn at the same time.

Gurpreet Singh (CRO and Co-founder) with his business acumen skills brings about high-quality solutions to the problems at Awign. He also helped in conceptualizing new business divisions at Awign that will provide its customers with end-to-end outcome-based execution.

Praveen Kumar Sah (CTO and Co-founder) believes in his principle to “learn together, grow together, and enjoy together” which was laid as a cornerstone for Awign to build on. He brings forward a vision to make Awign the AWS of Operations through his unrivaled tech stack.

Since the inception of Awign, the co-founders have been extremely working towards solving the two key problem statements for its clients and gig partners. The team has invested a big chunk of effort, resources, and time to improve Awign’s tech platform each day and move towards creating an impact on the problems Awign wishes to solve; Technology will be our anchor, our gig partners are our army, and making the clients our king.

With a team of 294 employees and functions such as Operations, Sales, Client Engagement, User Acquisition, Human resources, Product, and Tech, Awign’s mission has been to humanize the efforts and has worked on a model that gives the gig partners a journey to keep working on, instead of a one-time opportunity. The company provides its clients with quality outcomes along with solutions to their other existing problems and with added support to grow and expand more.

What are the drivers/market trends that are shaping the Gig Work Platform in 2022?

Growth is only the start of the story of how the gig economy will change in 2022. As the gig economy matures:

Automation will act as a fork in the road - The continued growth of technology and the gig economy will be one of the most significant market trends in 2022. We’ll see an even deeper integration of the two, which will result in greater usage of work tech platforms. A no-code technology, for example, will come into play which will be more capable of providing end-to-end workflow management tailored to business requirements. Real-time visibility, tracking, and management will soon become a seamless practice for enterprises

Behemoths embracing the gig – By the end of 2022, we will see a doubling of gig-based hiring for skilled and expert talent across industries. While blue-collar jobs have dominated the definition of the gig economy, the future will paint a different picture, with roles for experienced professionals and experts in their field gaining prominence and increased adoption. Apart from the startups that have been early adopters, industry giants will also adopt gig in a full-fledged way. While they have already mapped out their gig transformation strategies, they anticipate a shift of up to 30% of existing roles to gig in the coming year.

Inclusive ecosystem - As a multigenerational ecosystem, the gig culture is gaining more acceptability and rising up the respectability ladder. As the dawn of a new era, companies are increasingly looking for gig partners for roles in HR operations, customer support, transactions/operations processing, sales, software development, IT support, graphic design, business analytics, data science processing, and data analysis, in addition to delivery services that were previously the domain of blue-collar gig partners. Additionally, enterprises are also warming up to white-collar gig experts for positions in legal, finance, information technology, strategy, and marketing

Remote all the way - The pandemic has certainly upended the 9-to-5 work structure in a way that location became a secondary factor in getting work done. This culture gained prominence and we expect a 50% increase in gig partners' engagement in remote jobs in 2022. Another intriguing trend that we foresee is the emergence of remote Tier 2 and 3 cities as gig cities. As we achieve stable state levels in Tier 1 cities, Tier 2 and 3 cities will have a lot more gig jobs as compared to earlier

Foresight driven policies – Last but not least, the government of India has also recognized the potential of the gig economy and has taken measures such as code on social security, mandatory coverage under the Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana to safeguard gig workers. In the future, to ensure an inclusive ecosystem, innovative products such as micro-insurance, pro-rata pension, etc will also be offered to gig partners. Employers will also attempt to build a gig partner-friendly environment in order to recruit more talent to their company

Overall, the key drivers have prompted massive and rapid experimentation that will most certainly continue long term as gig partners, businesses, and even customers recognise the numerous benefits of the gig economy.

How is your company tapping these market trends for growth?

As per the ASSOCHAM report, there are 15 million freelance/gig workers across India, where Awign has already captured 6% of this workforce.

In order to achieve the maximum potential of our target market, we developed a win-win business model for (both) companies, in which we bill them solely based on outcomes rather than manpower, and for gig partners, in which we onboard them without charge and also give them on-the-job skilling opportunities.

At Awign, we have understood that technology is perhaps the best tool there is to solve the ‘right skill’ issue, and Awign is working to be an important part of the puzzle to bridge the gap. By leveraging AI's capacity to analyze and interpret data, we strive to be effective in matching the business challenge to the solution.

Awign, which is present in 450+ locations PAN-India, spanning 12,000+ pin codes, is spread across the length & breadth of our country and is poised to help enterprises with gig partners who understand values and perceptions, local purchasing habits, and other consumer pain points of particular regions. Our reach advances our goal of propelling India by giving great job opportunities to the country's growing workforce and at the same time helping enterprises conquer new markets. We envision collaborating with a growing number of businesses to assist them to discover and leverage local and skilled gig partners.

Additionally, with its performance-focused business model, Awign has enlisted the following growth levers in order to drive the desired impact:

1. Improving market penetration and share of the wallet (Demand): Significant upsell/cross-sell opportunities due to strengthening of the relationship and perceived brand recognition
2. Use case expansion (Demand): Adopting and expanding newer use cases with continuous improvement in existing use cases
3. Geographical expansion (Demand and Supply): Improvement in the density of supply while opening up newer geographies in India and global markets.
4. Monetization of supply (Supply): Plausible opportunities to monetize supply on the platform

We work on a model that gives our gig partners a journey to keep working on, instead of a one-time opportunity. We provide our clients with quality outcomes along with solutions to their other existing problems and with added support to grow and expand more.

We have provided the gig partners a platform to work, learn and grow as we believe that it is essential to keep upskilling in order to gain more opportunities. Keeping this in mind, we launched Awign University in an endeavor to upskill, reskill and multi-skill our gig partners’ community. Through Awign University, we have curated courses, content, and other opportunities for our gig partners to learn from. We have already rolled out our first programme (aimed to benefit the kids of our gig partners) and received great early traction.

How has your revenue grown with the brand evolving during a pandemic?

 The global pandemic had an impact on our business by eroding our monthly topline as we were primarily focused on enterprise customers in hospitality and mobility prior to COVID-19. This unexpected push aided us in creating a fresh path to clinical adaptation and a go-to-market plan. With our no-code tech platform and during the COVID-induced lockdown phase, we have launched 5 (newer) lines of businesses that do not involve any software development.

With these on-time measures, Awign was able to recover to pre-COVID levels within 6 months of receiving revenue. Awign has grown 5X of the pre COVID levels at the monthly revenue along with expanding our connection to diverse digitally-driven professions, with no geographical barriers to serviceability.

Awign has now added a total of 158 client base spread across the sectors such as IT, consulting, FMCG, Education and is now also moving towards acquiring customers globally as well and witnessed an increase in average revenue per customer per month to 52% in the year 2021.

Since its inception, Awign has grown to become a company with annual recurring revenue of over INR 100 crore while bridging the gap between what businesses want and what Indians can do. It has achieved a healthy gross margin of 30% and aims to hit 45% by FY25 and aims to become a company with INR 750 crore annual revenue by FY25.

What has 2021 changed for you? How are things now?

While the global pandemic had an effect on our business, it did, however, open up a new path for us to bounce back even stronger than before. Within a couple of weeks of the COVID-induced lockdown on April 20, we diversified our lines of business and launched 5 major new lines of business. During the pandemic, we witnessed a rise in acceptance of Gig work by large enterprises as well as a new kind of enthusiasm and energy in our gig partners to join our gig partner community.

The year 2021 has been a great period for us since we have evolved organically and achieved certain key milestones that are helping us in establishing ourselves as a 'work-tech' platform that delivers outcome-based enterprise operations with a skilled workforce.

• We now have over 1 million registered Gig Partners on our platform
• Onboarded 158 businesses from sectors such as FMCG, Assessment, Ed Tech, Banking etc, giving them accessibility to work with gig partners spread across the 500 cities throughout India (including 8 tier-I cities, 76 tier-II cities, and several tier-III cities)
• Completed 7 million+ jobs in the previous two years and has witnessed a 25X increase in ARR in the last two years
• Retained revenue of >98% and a 3X increase in average revenue per customer, (since COVID-19) which gives a testament that our enterprise customers prefer to stay longer with us
• Secured four rounds of funding from the country’s top VCs such as Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Unitus Ventures, Lumis Partners, Work10M, Eagle10 Ventures, Blacksoil, and Stride Ventures, and raising another round soon in the first half of 2022
• Increased in-house team strength to +294 people along with the registered gig partners count to 1+ million gig partners

What are your growth priorities for 2022?

Our growth priorities have always been on the following topline objectives:

• Launching our SaaS platform to make the whole ecosystem much better and more convenient for both the businesses and our Gig partners
• Diversifying digital lines of business, including content operations and exam proctoring, in global markets such as the United States and the Middle East, in order to maintain a healthy mix of distant and hyperlocal work segments. Earned Soc2 Type 2 certification to provide the required confidence to global customers for handling information security and data privacy regulations
• Extending our realm in providing skilling, reskilling and multi-skilling possibilities for our gig partners through ‘Awign University’, which provides:
  • Required training and guidance for the registered gig partners to complete their work seamlessly
  • Curated courses, content, and other opportunities for our gig partners, giving them an objective to not only earn but learn as well
• We launched a new vertical namely Awign Experts during the pandemic. With Awign Expert we plan to tap the white-collar market and gigify professional roles which require experience and expertise.
• Going hyperlocal by onboarding 120,000+ Awign champions to achieve 300,000,000+ tasks per day and reaching a 12X growth in revenue and more than 95 percent platform adoption by clients, suppliers, and internal teams, by 2025

Funding

Awign has already secured ~ INR 59 crores through four rounds of funding from the country’s top VCs such as Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Unitus Ventures, Lumis Partners, Work10M, Eagle10 Ventures, Blacksoil and Stride Ventures since 2018. These funds were raised to support and focus on strengthening our business operations as well as expanding our geographical reach and maximizing productivity.