India’s blue-collar recruitment platform Vahan.ai has secured a strategic investment from LemmaTree, the Temasek-founded investment firm; and simultaneously acquired L.earn, the skilling arm of GoodWorker, a jobs platform that has struggled to scale despite Temasek’s backing.
The company did not disclose the amount it raised nor specified whether it was part of a larger Series B round. Founder and CEO Madhav Krishna said the funds will be used to enhance the platform’s AI and multilingual capabilities and more than double job placements to over 100,000 per month from 40,000 currently.
The acquisition of L.earn follows a turbulent chapter for GoodWorker, which Temasek launched in 2020 to address employment challenges faced by migrant workers in India. In 2023, DealStreetAsia exclusively reported that GoodWorker had laid off nearly 90% of its staff and was absorbed into Affinidi, a LemmaTree-affiliated venture focused on decentralised identity.
At the time, LemmaTree Group CEO Glenn Gore told DealStreetAsia that the company was “pivoting strategies” and that GoodWorker’s remaining assets and staff would be transitioned to Affinidi.
GoodWorker, Affinidi, and Trustana are portfolio companies incubated by LemmaTree, the venture-building arm of Temasek.
In 2020, the company invested about $34 million in Pravasi Rojgar, a job platform for migrant workers floated as a joint venture between Indian film actor Sonu Sood and edtech firm Schoolnet India. The same year, Schoolnet, which was majority owned by the debt-ridden shadow lender IL&FS, was sold to Falafal Technology Pvt Ltd under India’s Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
For Vahan.ai, the acquisition of L.earn is aimed at embedding skilling directly into its hiring workflows. L.earn’s mobile-first content is tailored for gig and frontline workers in logistics, manufacturing, and retail. Vahan plans to integrate this skilling layer across its AI recruiter, which currently handles voice-based hiring journeys in English and Hindi, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o.
Vahan last raised $10 million in a Series B round led by Khosla Ventures in 2024, with participation from Y Combinator, Gaingels, and Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
The company is not currently exploring M&As with HR-tech firms, but said it remains open to strategic partnerships that support its long-term mission. Founder and chief executive officer Madhav Krishna told DealStreetAsia that while there are no near-term plans for an IPO, the company is “building towards going public” and would consider synergistic partnerships that align with its goal of enabling employment for one billion people.
Founded in 2016, Vahan.ai operates a recruitment platform that uses voice-driven AI tools to place blue-collar workers in high-volume roles across quick commerce, logistics, and retail. It currently facilitates around 40,000 job placements per month and has placed over one million workers to date across more than 900 cities. Its clients include Swiggy, Zepto, Zomato, and Blinkit.
The fresh funding will support the scaling of Vahan’s tech stack, including support for eight additional Indian languages and deeper expansion into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
The company is also exploring selective expansion into Southeast Asia and MENA, with a particular focus on the Middle East, where Krishna said demand for Indian-origin blue-collar labour remains high. Early-stage pilots and partnerships are currently being discussed in both regions.
