SaaS Startup OSlash Raises $5 Mn To Grow Its Universal Search Tool

OSlash, a SaaS startup working to facilitate cross-sharing of information in a workplace, has raised $5 Mn at a valuation of $50 Mn in a post-seed funding round from more than 40 operators. The startup claims that it is the first time a startup has raised funds solely from HNIs, without the involvement of any VC funds.

These include Kunal Shah (CEO, CRED), Christian Oestlien (VP Product, YouTube), Akshay Kothari (COO, Notion), and Cristina Cordova (partner, First Round), along with other investors from the industry.

Before this funding round, OSlash had raised $2.5 Mn from Accel Partners and multiple angel investors in September 2021. The latest funding round has taken the total funding in the startup to $7.5 Mn.

“It’s great to have onboard top executives from companies we love. Their expertise in SaaS definitely lends itself to a better product for everyone,” said Oslash CEO Ankit Pansari.

Kevin Weil, ex-head of product at Instagram, Twitter, and early investor at OSlash said, “The power to index links and retrieve information quickly is crucial for organizations that want to scale. I’m excited for OSlash to become the de-facto way employees at every company keep information at their fingertips.”

Founded in 2020 by Ankit Pansari and Shoaib Khan, OSlash has said that the startup will use the fresh funds to set up hiring in USA & Europe and grow its universal search tool. Currently, OSlash is used by more than 3,000 teams, including CRED, Khan Academy, and Twitch.

OSlash is an enterprise productivity tool to enable employees to access information across an organisation using everyday keywords. Naming URLs and files – a practice common in Linkedin, Google, and Meta – creates a single source of truth for everything important, helping teams collaborate seamlessly.

OSlash is also developing a universal search on its platform that would allow users to search for information within their workspace similar to Googling.

India’s SaaS market is looking set to capture a significant portion of the world’s SaaS market. According to a Bain report, Indian SaaS companies are poised to reach $30 Bn in revenue by 2025, capturing an 8% to 9% share of the global SaaS market.

Indian SaaS startups have been raising funds at a healthy pace lately, with the aim to expand their reach and expand teams. This month, B2B SaaS startup Draup raised $20 Mn from US-based private equity firm HKW to accelerate its AI capabilities and expand its product portfolio.

Further, in January, Delhi-NCR and Palo Alto-based contact centre software startup SaaS Labs raised $42 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. 

Along with SaaS Labs, in January itself, Zluri, a SaaS management platform, raised $10 Mn in a Series A round of funding led by MassMutual Ventures with participation from existing investors, Endiya Partners and Kalaari Capital.