BetterPlace raises $40 million via convertible notes in ongoing funding round

New investors Macquarie Capital and SITE Capital Partners have participated and infused funds as a part of the latest tranche, persons aware of the deal told ET.

The company’s existing investors, including Jungle Ventures and British International Investment, have also participated in the ongoing round.

BetterPlace said it would use the funds to enhance its technology platform and add task management and fintech capabilities to its offerings. It is also expected to utilise the capital for inorganic acquisitions as well as geographic expansion.

BetterPlace is looking to expand into the Southeast Asian markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand next year. The company expects to increase its global footprint to six countries by the end of 2023, Pravin Agarwala, cofounder and group chief executive officer (CEO), told ET in an interaction.

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Founded in 2015, BetterPlace provides a horizontal software platform to enterprises and small businesses, helping them manage their blue and grey-collared workforce. It manages the complete lifecycle of workforce management, right from assessment services of job seekers to digital onboarding, upskilling and compliance.

“We wanted to raise only as much as we could digest for growth over the next 2-3 years. The reason we chose convertible notes is that we didn’t want to dilute too much,” Agarwala told ET.

With the platform-play, the company is looking to add products such as earned wage access, where an organisation pays an employee’s salary in advance; as well as introducing target-based saving products for enterprise employees. It already helps enterprises provide insurance covers for their employees through financial partners.

“The problem is that these (blue or grey-collared) individuals are deprived of credit since there isn’t much data on them. We, on the other hand, have the data and want to leverage those sets to provide credit to this under-served market. BetterPlace might also enter the targets-based savings product next year,” added Agarwala.

It is looking to introduce these products in the market by the middle of next year.

BetterPlace currently works with 1,100 enterprise clients, which use its platform to manage 4 million employees on a monthly basis. The company is looking to grow its client base by five times and reach 50 million monthly users by the end of FY25.

Profitability projections

It is also expected to be profitable on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) level by December 2023 and be overall profitable in 2024. Agarwala said.

“…we are excited to be part of BetterPlace’s growth journey,” said Amit Anand, founding partner at Jungle Ventures.

The company said it currently clocks an annual revenue run rate of $100 million.