Gurugram-based employee rewards and recognition platform Advantage Club on Wednesday said it has raised $1 million (about Rs 7.2 crore at current exchange rate) as part of its pre-Series A round of funding led by GrowX Ventures and joined by early-stage investor Sprout Venture Partners, among others.
Existing investors Axilor Ventures and Mumbai Angels as well as angel investors contributed to the round, Advantage Club added in a statement.
The startup, which is operated and owned by Work Advantage Pvt. Ltd, will use the fresh capital to become a more holistic benefits platform for employees catering to their wellness, financial and experiential needs, said Sourabh Deorah, co-founder and chief executive, Advantage Club.
Advantage Club, which was launched in 2016, helps corporates improve employee engagement and retention by providing perks, rewards and recognition. Its clients include Concentrix, EY, DXC and Mphasis.
Founder couple Sourabh and Smiti Deorah, both University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) alumni, worked with Amazon and Microsoft in the US before starting Advantage Club.
Advantage Club had raised $400,000 in early 2016 from Purvi Capital, Mumbai Angels and individual investors. Last year, the company had raised $300,000 (Rs 1.9 crore) in a fresh round of funding led by Axilor Ventures.
The current investment in Advantage Club is the latest bet on HR startups by investors. Such startups seek to address India’s growing need for talent while, at the same time, addressing gaps in the traditional HR systems.
Earlier this month, Talview Inc. raised $6.75 million (Rs 48 crore) in its Series A round of funding from investors including US-based Storm Ventures, Inventus Capital, Eileses Capital and Emergent Ventures.
In June, Kredily raised $750,000 (around Rs 5.23 crore) in a seed funding round led by Fosun RZ Capital, an affiliate of Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group.
In the same month, Indonesian startup Go-Jek acquihired Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence recruitment platform AirCTO.