Vahan.ai, a leading platform in the blue-collar recruitment sector, has successfully secured $10 million in a Series B funding round led by Khosla Ventures. This round also attracted investments from Y Combinator, US-based venture capital firm Gaingels, and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
In September 2021, Vahan had raised $8 million during its Series A round, also led by Khosla Ventures. The Bengaluru-based startup had earlier joined Airtel’s Startup Accelerator Program, with the telecom giant acquiring an 8.82% stake in the company in October 2019.
With this fresh funding, Vahan aims to advance its AI-powered recruitment technology, expanding its capabilities to support interviews in eight major Indian languages. Currently, the platform conducts AI-driven interviews in English and Hindi, with plans to broaden its reach into industries like manufacturing and retail.
Founded in 2016, Vahan has made significant strides, helping recruit over 500,000 workers across more than 480 cities. The platform has partnered with leading companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Zepto, Blinkit, Amazon, Rapido, and Uber. With over 25,000 recruits joining the workforce each month through Vahan, the platform helps reduce recruitment costs and improve turnaround time.
For the fiscal year ending March 2023, Vahan reported an operating revenue of ₹29.7 crore with a loss of ₹17.71 crore. While the company has yet to file its financial report for FY24, it expects to double its growth by FY25.
Initially, Vahan faced competition from platforms like Baba Jobs and Aasaan Jobs, both of which later merged with Quikr and OLX in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Today, Vahan’s major competitor in the blue-collar recruitment space is Apna, a Tiger Global-backed unicorn that gained prominence after the pandemic.
