Vigour Contingent Pvt Ltd, which operates an online marketplace for contract workforce Workflexi.in, has secured Rs 1 crore ($157,200) in its seed round of funding, a company statement said.
The funding round was led by Kamalraj Chandrasekaran, founder and executive director of Bangalore-based Kamalraj Hospitality Concepts India Pvt Ltd, which owns ice cream chain Cream Factory. Parashiva J Ravikumar, director of Bangalore-based network management consultancy firm Orva Networks Pvt Ltd, also invested in his personal capacity, the statement added.
Workflexi.in will use the funds for product development, team expansion, and to execute marketing activities, Geetha Prabhu, co-founder and chief operating officer of the venture, said.
“We have seen a very positive response to our work-at-will model both by employers and employees, and we are confident of reflecting this in our revenue model,†she added.
Founded in 2016 by Prabhu and Sandesh Kangod, the Bangalore-based firm connects qualified professionals looking for contract or consulting jobs with potential employers. The platform devises contracts which are flexible and benefits both the employers and employees. The one-year-old startup had on-boarded close to 10 potential employers onto its platform.
“Our distinctive model of providing contract employment is a game changer for this largely unstructured employment industry. We saw a huge potential in the flexi-staffing industry and our revenue growth over the last 12 months shows the widespread acceptance of the idea,†stated Kangod, chief executive of Workflexi.in.
Workflexi.in was also part of industry body Nasscom 10,000 Startups incubation programme in May 2017. A market research professional with 15 years of experience, Prabhu previously worked at Nielsen, TNS Global and Dr Reddy’s Lab, among others. Co-founder Kangod, who is an history, economics and political science graduate, has earlier worked at companies like CareerBuilder, Collabera, Winhire Technologies and Magna Infotech, among others, according to his LinkedIn account.
A few ventures in the broader online recruitment space raised funding in recent times.
In November last year, Bangalore-based Crowdflux Technology Pvt Ltd, that operates Playment, a mobile marketplace for crowdsourced work, raised $1.6 million from Y Combinator, Sparkland Capital, SAIF Partners, and angel investors Ryan Petersen and Max Altman, a report by American technology news website VentureBeat stated.
In October last year, media reports stated that Bengaluru-based Skillenza, an online hiring and talent management company, secured Rs 4.7 crore in a seed round led by Blume Ventures and Indian Angel Network.
In July 2017, AirCTO, a human- and artificial intelligence-powered recruitment platform that helps companies hire technical talent, secured angel investment from former Nokia director Francesco Cara.
In June 2017, online classifieds site Quikr India acquired blue collar jobs listing company Babajob Services.
