Sheroes, a jobs and career platform for women, has raised 12 crores in a series-A funding led by Anirudh as part of a larger commitment.
The fundraising also saw participation from The HR Fund, angel investor Rajul Garg and existing investor Quintillion Media led by Raghav Bahl.
Dexter Capital was the exclusive financial advisor and Vertices Partners the legal advisor to SHEROES for the transaction.
“SHEROES has demonstrated great results in a very short period of time and we are looking forward to accelerating the same. The size of the opportunity, as well as the impact it can generate, is really exciting,” said Sandeep Sinha, managing partner at Lumis Partners.
Gender diversity is a pressing issue for India Inc and SHEROES is addressing it, said The HR Fund CEO, Utkarsh Joshi. “SHEROES is helping to create the right kind of linkages between the female workforce and organizations,” he said.
SHEROES, the fifth investment for The HR Fund, had last year raised funds in an angel round from Quintillion Media, 500 Startups and a group of individuals including Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Rajan Anandan, Binny Bansal, Mekin Maheshwari, Girish Mathrubhootham, Indus Khaitan and Krishna Mehra.
Sandeep Sinha and Binny Bansal are set to join the board of SHEROES parent, Applied Life. “Getting the right kind of investment support is crucial,” said SHEROES founder Sairee Chahal. “With this capital raise, we will further strengthen our investment in technology, resources and growing the company's footprint,” she said.
Launched in 2014, SHEROES is looking to expand its footprint from 12,000 companies to 30,000 in the next 18 months. It runs a career support helpline that it plans to expand to be able to reach women on their mobile phones. Besides, it plans to scale up its pilots around the work-from-home segment.
Quintillion Media founder Bahl said, “The website has shown great traction. It is an innovative business model and high impact makes it a compelling startup.“
SHEROES aims to help women build their careers and fulfill their aspirations in an economy where the workforce is still skewed in favour of men even as 300 million women are seeking better job opportunities and financial independence.
The company has communities spread across major metros and tier-II cities including Jaipur, Indore and Pune.
This article was originally published inThe Economic Times (Delhi)