Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates a startup focussed on the delivery of government financial schemes and citizens, has raised pre-Series A funding.
Impact investor Acumen Fund led the funding round, Pune-based Haqdarshak said in a statement.
Other investors in the round include Upaya Ventures, former HDFC executive Shalini Chhabra, former Infosys and Capgemini executive Manish Subramaniam, as well as existing angel investors in the company.
While the quantum of the investment was not disclosed, Haqdarshak has been looking to raise between $750,000 and $1 million (Rs 5.6-7.5 crore at current exchange rates) in this round.
Haqdarshak – founded in 2016 by Aniket Doegar, Asha Krishnan and PR Ganapathy – says it helps citizens at the last mile access public schemes and services for a small fee.
The company will use the fresh capital to enhance its technological infrastructure at both the business-to-business and business-to-customer levels. It will also use the funding to hire people for its execution and technology teams, as well as strengthen its evaluation and monitoring processes.
Haqdarshak says it is aiming to scale to a million applications with more than 10,000 agents within the next couple of years.
“We are excited that Haqdarshak with its technology platform and outreach is trying to bridge the gap between the intended benefits in the schemes and actual delivery to the poor. We feel these platforms are need of the hour to ensure people do not slip back into poverty,” Acumen India country director Mahesh Yagnaraman said.
Haqdarshak delivers its services primarily through a mobile and web software-as-a-service platform for its corporate partners. This is complimented by a training platform used by women entrepreneurs.
In March 2017, VCCircle exclusively reported that Haqdarshak had raised $190,000 in angel funding from investors including PR Ganapathy, WonderChef managing director Ravi Saxena, Samaaru India Pvt Ltd co-founder Sandeep Raju and Hindustan Unilever executive director Prabha Narasimhan.
