Blue-collar workforce management platform Smartstaff (previously Qikwork) raises $4.3 million (about Rs 32 crore) in funding from Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Arkam Ventures, and others on Monday. Other investors such as Gemba Capital and a few angel investors also participated in the round.
The funds raised will be used for further enhancing the product and building the team, it added. Smartstaff helps businesses hire and manage their blue-collar workforce by digitising workforce management practices. The company's goal is to enable 100 million blue-collar workers in India to get access to better work by leveraging the power of technology.
Currently, over 30,000 man hours of work is tracked everyday on the Smartstaff platform with clients including Raymonds, Enamor, Dixcy and others. The company has about 60 employees. The company expects to have over 10,000 workers on its platform by the end of the year, the statement said.
Smartstaff was founded in October 2020 by four co-founders and ex-colleagues at Runnr – Arpit Dave, Viral Chhajer, Gnanesh Chilukuri and Aravind Reddy. Blume Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners were also early backers of Runnr. “With more and more industrial workers getting access to smartphones, we see a huge potential in using technology to reimagine workplace processes, and unlock massive value for companies and workers alike,” Smartstaff co-founder and CEO Arpit Dave said.
Viral Chhajer, co-founder of Smartstaff, added that the company's vision is to facilitate the digital transformation of the workforce management practises of India's manufacturing and supply chain industries.
