Vahan.ai, an AI-driven recruitment platform focused on India’s gig workforce, has raised $10 million in a Series B funding round led by Khosla Ventures. Key participants include Y Combinator and Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma. The funding will support the expansion of Vahan’s AI recruitment platform to cover eight Indian languages and fuel its entry into manufacturing and retail. Since its founding in 2016, Vahan has placed over 500,000 workers with major companies and aims to transform job opportunities for a billion people. India's gig economy is expected to grow to $250 billion by 2032, creating over 90 million jobs.

Bengaluru, India, September 20, 2024 – Vahan.ai, a leading AI-powered recruitment platform specializing in India’s burgeoning gig and blue-collar workforce, has announced the successful closure of its $10 million Series B funding round. The funding was led by Silicon Valley’s Khosla Ventures, a renowned venture capital firm spearheaded by Vinod Khosla, one of the world’s most influential figures in artificial intelligence. Other notable investors in this round include startup accelerator Y Combinator, U.S.-based venture capital firm Gaingels, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of Paytm, India’s leading digital payments company.

Revolutionizing Blue-Collar Recruitment

Founded in 2016 by CEO Madhav Krishna, Vahan.ai has been at the forefront of leveraging artificial intelligence to revolutionize recruitment for India’s blue-collar and gig economy workers. The company’s AI-driven platform aims to bridge the gap between employers and millions of blue-collar workers who struggle to find consistent, well-paying jobs. These workers, who form the backbone of sectors like food delivery, e-commerce, and logistics, often lack the digital literacy or access needed to find formal employment through traditional means.

Over the past eight years, Vahan.ai has scaled its operations across 480 cities in India, placing over 500,000 workers in jobs with major industry players such as Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Zepto, Blinkit, Amazon, Rapido, and Uber. What started as a platform providing 600 jobs per month during the pandemic has now grown to a staggering 25,000 monthly placements, illustrating the vast and growing demand for gig and blue-collar labor in India.

Series B Funding and Its Implications

The $10 million raised in this Series B funding will be pivotal in accelerating Vahan.ai’s growth and further developing its AI technology. With India’s gig economy expanding rapidly, the company plans to use the funds to broaden the linguistic capabilities of its platform, which currently supports English and Hindi, to include eight major Indian languages. This will make the platform more accessible to a larger segment of India’s blue-collar workforce, many of whom speak regional dialects and are underrepresented in the formal job market.

Furthermore, Vahan.ai plans to leverage this new capital to expand into new industries such as manufacturing and retail. These sectors are set to play a critical role in India’s future growth as the country moves toward its Viksit Bharat@2047 vision—a roadmap that aims to transform India into a developed economy by 2047, the centennial of its independence.

The Growing Gig Economy in India

India’s gig economy has seen exponential growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by increased demand for delivery services, e-commerce, and logistics. The number of gig workers in India has been growing at a rate of 13% annually, and the sector is expected to generate over 90 million jobs by 2032, contributing as much as $250 billion to the Indian economy. The bulk of these jobs will be filled by blue-collar workers in sectors such as food delivery, e-commerce logistics, and quick commerce.

The gig economy is not just a temporary solution to employment challenges but is increasingly seen as a vital component of India’s long-term economic strategy. As part of this transformation, Vahan.ai has positioned itself as a critical player in ensuring that India’s blue-collar workforce has access to stable, well-paying jobs that contribute to long-term economic growth.

AI Technology at the Core of Vahan.ai’s Success

Vahan.ai’s success can be attributed in large part to its innovative use of artificial intelligence. The platform’s AI-powered recruitment engine streamlines the hiring process for companies, significantly reducing the time and cost associated with recruiting blue-collar workers. The AI-driven system helps match candidates with job opportunities based on their skills, experience, and location, ensuring that both employers and workers benefit from a more efficient recruitment process.

The platform also uses AI to conduct preliminary interviews, reducing the burden on human recruiters and allowing companies to scale their hiring efforts more effectively. This has proven particularly useful for industries with high employee turnover, such as food delivery and e-commerce, where the demand for workers can fluctuate based on seasonal needs and customer demand.

As part of its future plans, Vahan.ai will invest in further enhancing its AI capabilities to improve its language processing features. By supporting eight major Indian languages and numerous dialects, the platform will be more inclusive and accessible, enabling it to reach a much larger segment of India’s workforce.

Impact Beyond Employment: Transforming Lives

The impact of Vahan.ai’s work extends far beyond simple job placement. For the millions of blue-collar workers in India—many of whom live below the poverty line—finding consistent, well-paying work is a lifeline that offers not just financial stability but also improved quality of life. Through its innovative recruitment platform, Vahan.ai has already helped over 500,000 workers secure jobs, improving their ability to provide for their families, access education, and secure better healthcare.

Madhav Krishna, CEO and founder of Vahan.ai, emphasized the platform’s broader social mission, stating, “Each placement is more than just a job; it’s a step toward a more secure and hopeful future. Our goal is to empower over a billion people to find livelihoods, transforming not just their professional journeys but their entire lives.”

By providing stable employment opportunities to those who might otherwise struggle to find work, Vahan.ai is not only contributing to India’s economic growth but also helping to uplift some of the most underserved segments of the population.

A Vision for the Future

Looking ahead, Vahan.ai’s focus will be on scaling its platform to reach even more blue-collar workers, with the ambitious goal of helping over a billion people find employment. With the ongoing support of its investors, including Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Gaingels, and Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Vahan.ai is well-positioned to continue its mission of driving inclusive growth across India.

Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures and a long-time supporter of Vahan.ai, praised the company’s efforts, stating, “Vahan.ai has consistently demonstrated a commitment to leveraging AI in a way that creates real-world impact. Their innovative approach to recruitment is redefining how India’s blue-collar workforce connects with employers, and this new funding will enable them to scale even further.”

With $10 million in new funding, a rapidly expanding platform, and a growing market for gig and blue-collar labor, Vahan.ai is poised to become a major force in India’s recruitment landscape. As the company continues to expand its reach and improve its AI capabilities, it remains committed to its mission of using technology to create meaningful job opportunities for India’s blue-collar workers, helping to shape the future of work in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.