Blue collar workforce management firm BetterPlace Safety Solutions Pvt. Ltd has secured $40 million (around Rs 340 crore) in an extended Series C funding round from Macquarie Capital and Site Capital Partners, with participation from existing investors Jungle Ventures and British International Investment (BII).
The latest round brings the software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform's total fundraise to $80 million till date, pegging its valuation between $500-700 million, co-founder Pravin Agarwala told VCCircle.
In June, VCCircle had first reported that the company is in talks with several global venture capital funds to raise $50 million in a fresh round of funding at nearly $400 million valuation.
“We will be deploying the fresh proceeds to fuel growth organically, which will comprise building more technology and products as well as catering to a larger audience and spectrum of things,” Agarwala said.
Besides, scaling-up its tech portfolio and capabilities, the company is also planning to expand its geographical footprint across Indonesia and Malaysia markets early next year.
“We look to establish ourselves across all Southeast Asia (SEA) countries by mid-next year. The region interests us due to a similar demographic and enterprise ecosystem, especially for the frontline segment. All Asean countries, hence, will fall in the bracket where we will eye strategic investments,” he added.
BetterPlace will also use the fresh capital for further acquisitions and for consolidation within Indian and Southeast Asian markets.
The company has set aside $20 million to spend in SEA next year and plans to take it to $60-100 million in the coming years.
Founded in 2015 by Agarwala and Uday Singh, BetterPlace offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, which helps companies to manage the entire lifecycle of their blue-collar workforce by providing them services such as hiring, background verification and digital onboarding of the worker.
It also offers training, attendance management, payroll services and compliance services. The company has a team of about 1,000 people, which it expects to grow by 20% in the coming year.
Agarwala said BetterPlace reported a 5x growth in revenue in the year-ended March 2022 of about Rs 275 crore.
For the current financial year, it is looking for a 3x growth in revenue, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization-level profitability by end of 2023 and net profitability in 2024.
“Healthy financial performance coupled with extensive innovation and growth has enabled BetterPlace to become one of the leading players in modernizing the largely informal sector of frontline workforce management,” said Amit Anand, founding partner at Jungle Ventures.
“As a company which was already on the pathway to hypergrowth, BetterPlace is set to achieve greater heights,” he added.
In September last year, BetterPlace raised $24 million in its Series C funding round. The investment round was led by returning investors Jungle Ventures and CX Partners.
