Startup Originals Team
Vahan.ai, a Bangalore-based artificial intelligence recruitment platform focused on blue-collar workers, has received a strategic investment from LemmaTree, an investment firm founded by Temasek, the Singaporean state investment giant. Alongside this investment, Vahan.ai has acquired L.earn, a digital skilling and upskilling platform for gig and frontline workers, formerly owned by GoodWorker and also backed by LemmaTree. This dual move marks a significant leap in Vahan.ai’s mission to empower millions of Indians with not just job opportunities but career advancement pathways.
Vahan.ai: Transforming Blue-Collar Recruitment
Founded in 2016, Vahan.ai leverages advanced voice-based AI technology to place blue-collar job seekers in high-volume sectors like logistics, retail, and quick commerce. Its proprietary AI recruiter, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o, conducts human-like conversations in English and Hindi via phone calls, making the platform accessible to workers even with limited digital literacy. This enables a seamless journey from job discovery to interview scheduling, and currently, the platform facilitates around 40,000 job placements per month, having placed over 1 million workers across more than 920 cities. Major clients include Swiggy, Zepto, Zomato, and Blinkit.
The Strategic Investment and its Significance:
While the investment amount has not been disclosed, the fresh capital will be used to further develop Vahan.ai’s tech stack by adding advanced multilingual support and scaling the platform’s ability to handle even greater placement volumes. The focus is on expanding into eight additional Indian languages and reaching deeper into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The company also plans to diversify into new sectors such as manufacturing, warehousing, and driver recruitment and is exploring international expansion, primarily targeting Southeast Asia and the Middle East (MENA), where the demand for Indian-origin blue-collar labor is high.
Acquisition of L.earn: Adding Skilling to Recruitment
The acquisition of L.earn gives Vahan.ai a powerful learning layer, allowing it to offer mobile-first, vernacular-language training modules tailored for gig and frontline workers. By embedding upskilling journeys directly within the job-seeking process, Vahan.ai aims to help users improve their employability, secure better-paying jobs, and develop long-term career trajectories. Sectors covered include logistics, manufacturing, and retail, all of which are seeing rapid growth in India’s gig and blue-collar economy.
Impact on India’s Blue-Collar Economy:
India’s blue-collar and gig workforce is expected to drive 70% of new employment growth by 2030, with blue-collar job opportunities growing at over 5% annually. The gig economy could reach $455 billion by the decade’s end. In this context, Vahan.ai sits at the intersection of technology and social impact, providing scalable, intelligent, and inclusive support for millions of workers—filling vital labor market gaps for both job seekers and employers.
Leadership Speak:
Madhav Krishna, CEO and Founder of Vahan.ai, stated,
“This partnership accelerates Vahan.ai’s ambition to build the most advanced AI-led infrastructure for employment in India’s informal sector. With LemmaTree’s backing and the integration of L.earn, we’re reimagining how workers access livelihoods-through voice-led interfaces, multilingual support, and embedded skills that adapt to each user’s context. Our focus is on personalisation, scaling across new industries, and ensuring all platform interactions boost workers’ long-term economic prospects.”
Glenn Gore, CEO of LemmaTree, added,
“We are thrilled to join forces with Vahan.ai as they redefine how businesses connect with frontline workers across India and beyond. Vahan’s innovative platform and passionate team are unlocking new opportunities for millions, driving both economic empowerment and operational efficiency.”
Looking Ahead:
With these strategic moves, Vahan.ai is not just building a hiring engine for India’s massive informal sector-it is building a full career ecosystem, supporting workers’ access to jobs, skilling, and long-term advancement. Supported by Temasek’s LemmaTree, and powered by cutting-edge AI, Vahan.ai aims to expand its reach across India and tap into global markets, helping shape the future of employment for a billion people.
