Explained: Is Apna a threat to Naukri?
Jobs platform Apna hits unicorn status, becoming the youngest Indian start up to hit unicorn status in 21 months after creating app and 15 months after beginning full scale operations. It is backed by marque investors like Sequoia, Tiger Global, Lightspeed India. Given it’s a jobs portal like Naukri the question is Apna.co a threat to Naukri? Watch the accompanying video of CNBC-TV18’s Reema Tendulkar for more details.
Jobs portal Apna.co on Thursday said it has secured about $100 million (about Rs 734.7 crore) in a round of funding led by Tiger Global. The Series C round also saw participation from Owl Ventures, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Maverick Ventures and GSV Ventures, taking the company's valuation to $1.1 billion, according to a statement.
"Made in India, for the world, Apna aims to go into overdrive to sustainably solve the immense challenge of unemployment, poverty and upskilling," it said.
First, a fun fact: ‘Apna’ takes its name from the Gully Boy song up "Apna Time Aayega" (our time will come). The company has become the fastest Indian startup to achieve a unicorn status.
These are the numbers that the company has spoken about: 16 million users, and one and a half lakh recruiters on its platform, which includes the likes of Zomato, Urban Company, Byju's, PhonePe, Delhivery, Burger King and TeamLease. It claims to conduct 18 million interviews every month.
Now the natural question is: Is Apna a competitor to Naukri? The answer is: No. Apna now focuses on creating jobs for blue-collar employees while Naukri focuses on white-collar employees.
Now, who are blue-collar employees? These are jobs for carpenters, painters and delivery personnel.
Let us take an example to learn about the company's business better. For a company like Zomato, delivery boys would be staffed by Apna.co, but Naukri would address a company's need for IT or finance professionals. So, there are no overlaps in their businesses, thus no competition.
But the question is: What happens in the future? Naukri is a big player. Apna.co is backed by very large, deep-pocketed investors like Sequoia. Also, given how India's workforce is divided currently -- 90 percent of the workforce is actually from the unorganised, blue-collar market, the space has a high volume but low value.
Will Apna try and get into the high-margin white-collar market, which is where Naukri is? Will Naukri try to get into the blue-collar market because that is where India's workforce is currently?
The country's job market will be watched closely going forward.
-- With inputs from PTI
Also Read:
(Edited by : Sandeep Singh)
First Published: Sept 20, 2021 12:56 PM IST
Check out our in-depth Market Coverage, Business News & get real-time Stock Market Updates on CNBC-TV18. Also, Watch our channels CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz and CNBC Bajar Live on-the-go!
Supreme Court says it may consider interim bail for Arvind Kejriwal due to ongoing Lok Sabha polls
May 3, 2024 4:57 PM
10% discount on fare on Mumbai Metro lines 2 and 7A on May 20
May 3, 2024 2:40 PM