Persol, a leading APAC HR services provider, has strategically invested in Smartstaff, a blue-collar staffing platform, aligning with their focus on the Indian market. Smartstaff offers comprehensive staffing, recruitment, and management solutions. The Bengaluru-based startup has raised $10.5M in funding, with recent Series A funding of $6.2M, positioning them for growth.
Smartstaff, a platform specializing in blue-collar staffing has secured an investment, from Persol, a human resources service provider in the APAC region.
This investment aligns with Persol’s focus on India as a market. Smartstaff offers staffing solutions, including recruitment, management, and retention services within the market.
“We have chosen to support Smartstaff due to their approach of building a full stack model and leveraging technology to penetrate the Indian market. The team behind Smartstaff has demonstrated expertise in scaling companies. At Persol we are excited about collaborating with Smartstaff to establish ourselves as leaders in India’s blue-collar staffing solutions sector ” said Shingo Ishida, Partner and Head of APAC at Persol Group.
Founded in 2021 by Arpit Dave, Viral Chhajer, Gnanesh Chilukuri, and Aravind Reddy Smartstaff caters to large manufacturing enterprises by offering end-to-end solutions for recruitment, workforce management, and retention. In addition, to staffing services, they also provide payroll and compliance assistance to their clients.
Based in Bengaluru (Bangalore) this startup has raised $10.5 million in funding far. Notable investors include Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, Arkam Ventures, and Alteria Capital.
In June Smartstaff successfully raised $6.2 million in a Series A funding round with investments, from Nexus Ventures, Arkam Ventures Blume Ventures, and Alteria Capital.
Smartstaff competes with companies like KarmaLife, WorkIndia, BetterPlace, Apna, and PerkFinance across sectors. This year has also seen financial solutions provider KarmaLife and blue/grey collar job portal WorkIndia secure funding. However Apna has faced challenges with increasing losses; reporting a four-year-on-year growth in losses amounting to INR 112.5 crore, in FY22.
Persol Group-: Persol Holdings, formerly known as Temp Holdings, is a Japanese company specializing in human resource management. They offer labor hire services to clients.
The company was established in 1973 by Yoshiko Shinohara in her apartment when temporary staffing was still illegal in Japan. She faced concerns about the potential legal consequences of her company’s activities. However, the temporary staffing industry was eventually legalized and regulated in Japan with the enactment of the 1985 Worker Dispatch Law.
As of 2016, Persol Holdings generated revenues of approximately $4.5 billion, making it one of Japan’s largest staffing companies. With a workforce of 32,000 employees and a market capitalization of $5.7 billion as of 2017, Persol Holdings has established itself as a significant player in the industry.
