B2B Micro-Entrepreneur Platform: GigIndia acquired by Walmart’s PhonePe
- ByStartupStory | March 22, 2022
A B2B marketplace, GigIndia, acquired by Walmart-backed digital payments platform PhonePe, for on-demand work completion for freelance micro-entrepreneurs, for an undisclosed amount.
Pune-based GigIndia, as a part of the acquisition has 1.5 Mn entrepreneurs, and over 100 enterprises as customers, will integrate with PhonePe, the startup said in a statement.
PhonePe will leverage GigIndia’s network of freelance micro-entrepreneurs in order to help corporates and enterprises acquire more customers and scale up their distribution channels.
PhonePe said that this acquisition will also strengthen PhonePe’s offerings and value proposition to its enterprise partners and thereby result in the creation of millions of opportunities for individual freelance micro-entrepreneurs in India.
Vivek Lohcheb, head of offline business, PhonePe, speaking on the acquisition said that with its pool of high-quality, skilled freelance micro-entrepreneurs, GigIndia has already served many businesses.”
GigIndia was founded by Sahil Sharma and Aditya Shirole in 2017. Cmpanies such as Amazon, Reliance Industries, Paytm, Tata Group, Swiggy, PayU, among others are included as GigIndia’s customer base.
GigIndia announced last year that it would provide free Covid health insurance to its active gig workers covering up to INR 3 Lakh of medical expenses, in order to mitigate the financial burden imposed by the Covid-19 and reassure its workforce during the pandemic. The move highlights the need for paid leave or access to health insurance among gig workers and for social security benefits.
The startup’s list of investors and advisors include S Ramadorai, former TCS CEO; Tsuyoshi Ito, Beyond Next Ventures CEO and founding partner; Nao Murakami, Incubate Fund India founder; and Kiran Deshpande, former Tech Mahindra CEO.
On the other hand, former Flipkart executives Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer founded PhonePe. The PhonePe app went live in August 2016 based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It is owned by a subsidiary of Walmart, Flipkart. In 11 Indian languages the PhonePe app is available.
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