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Blue collar recruitment platform Vahan raises $10 Mn in Series B

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Blue collar recruitment platform Vahan raises $10 Mn in Series B
Medial

Blue collar recruitment platform Vahan.ai has raised $10 million in its Series B funding round led by Khosla Ventures. The round also saw participation from Y Combinator, US-based VC firm Gaingels, and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. In September 2021, the Bengaluru-based startup had raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Khosla Ventures. Vahan was a part of Airtelโ€™s Startup Accelerator Program and the telecom giant also picked up an 8.82% stake in the Madhav Krishna-led firm in October 2019. The fresh funds will be used to develop AI recruitment technology that supports eight major Indian languages, Vahan said in a press release. Currently, Vahanโ€™s AI recruiter conducts interviews in English and Hindi. It also plans to expand into industries such as manufacturing and retail. Since its launch in 2016, Vahan claims to have recruited over 500,000 workers in more than 480 cities with leading companies such as Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Zepto, Blinkit, Amazon, Rapido, and Uber. With over 25,000 recruits each month, Vahan reduces costs and turnaround time for recruitment. For the fiscal year ending March 2023, Vahan reported Rs 29.7 crore in operating revenue with a loss of Rs 17.71 crore. While the firm has yet to file its annual report for FY24, it expects to grow 2X or more in FY25. In the blue-collar recruitment sector, Vahan had faced initial competition from the likes of Baba Jobs and Aasaan Jobs. However, both struggled to grow and eventually merged with Quikr and OLX in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Tiger Global-backed Apna, which became a unicorn in 2021, emerged as a major competitor after the pandemic.

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Blue Tokai raises $35 Mn in Series C led by Verlinvest

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Blue Tokai raises $35 Mn in Series C led by Verlinvest
Medial

Global investment platform Verlinvest has led a $35 million round in specialty coffee and bakery brand Blue Tokai. Existing investors Anicut Capital and A91 Partners also joined the Series C funding. This strategic partnership will enable Blue Tokai to deepen its presence in existing metro markets and expand into new tier I and tier II cities in India over the next three years, the company said in a press release. In January 2023, Blue Tokai raised $30 million in its Series B funding round led by A91 Partners. Led by co-founders Matt Chitharanjan, Namrata Asthana, and Shivam Shahi, Blue Tokai has partnered with several retail outlets, luxury hotels, restaurants, top corporates, and co-working spaces, among others. In the past 12 months, the company claims to have more than doubled its store count to 130 outlets. The funds will also be used to expand to over 350 locations in the next 30-36 months. Blue Tokaiโ€™s revenue from operations surged 72% to Rs 127.45 crore in FY23 from Rs 74 crore in FY22. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, its losses also increased nearly 3.5-fold to Rs 43 crore in FY23, compared to Rs 12.3 crore in FY22. The company is yet to file its annual report for FY24. It competes with Rage Coffee, Third Wave Coffee Roasters, Slay Coffee, Sleepy Owl, and Seven Beans Co., among others. Among venture-funded startups, Third Wave Coffee was the largest brand in terms of revenue in FY23. However, the firm also experienced layoffs of more than 100 employees shortly after a $35 million fundraise in September last year. In March this year, Third Wave Coffeeโ€™s CEO Sushant Goel was replaced by Rajat Luthra from KFC. Earlier this week, GRM Overseas acquired a 44% equity stake in Rage Coffee through a combination of primary infusion and secondary buyouts.

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