Game-Based HRtech PakkaProfile Bags Seed Funding From Java Capital

Game-based gig workforce assessment and recruitment platform PakkaProfile has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by Java Capital. Early-stage investors Letsventure and work tool startup Notion’s COO Akshay Kothari also participated in this round.

Prior to this, the company has raised a pre-seed amount from international talent investor Entrepreneur First, which onboards entrepreneurs looking to build a deeptech product/service startup and helps them discover like-minded individuals for collaborations.

Founded in May 2019 by Nagmanjunath and Savio Sebastian, PakkaProfile is a Bengaluru-based startup HRtech that conducts gig workforce assessments using psychometric games, facial and speech recognition technologies and deep learning. The company helps recruiters make unbiased decisions and hire the right workforce. The company’s clientele includes food aggregator business Swiggy and cab-hailing service Ola.

Cofounder and CEO Nagmanjunath believes “gig workers have been a bit of a black box. Employers are constantly looking for higher productivity, longer retention, and better customer service from their workforce. And gig workers are typically opportunistic, trying to maximise their earnings over a short period of time, looking at flexible hours and opportunities closer to home.”

He further added that an on-demand platform like PakkaProfile is an effective way to build a profile by measuring personality traits, cognitive and language skills of the workforce and help match the right people for jobs.

Commenting on the fundraise, Java Capital’s Bhargavi V, said, “assessing the blue collared and gig workforce has remained an Achilles heel for employers. This problem is more pronounced now with the booming gig workforce.”

PakkaProfile competes with Talent Litmus, which has created a gamified screening tool that integrates elements of psychology and data science to allow organisations to engage with existing and prospective employees.

Talent Litmus’ 45-minute interactive role-playing mobile game, Nautics, collects a “detailed map” of the candidate’s personality, attitude and cognitive abilities, allowing companies to judge a client’s behavioural skills based on the choices they make in the game. The company has raised an undisclosed amount from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) and Haptik cofounder Aakrit Vaish through Letsventure.

Gamification of job screening and assessment is increasingly becoming popular in the Indian market as HRtech comes of age. The trend has garnered attention from big giants like Oracle, Deloitte and PWC that have introduced gamification in certain countries and segments of their businesses. According to the PwC CEO Survey 2018 report, over 91% of business leaders believe that behavioural skills are as important as technical skills.

According to Inc42 Plus, the HRtech sector garnered $504.8 Mn funding in 2018, registering a 207% rise from $164.2 Mn funding in 2014. Some of the prominent startups in this domain are Quodeck, Hush, SalaryFits and Vyre.