Upaya Social Ventures Announces Investment In An Indian Gig Platform PickMyWork
PickMyWork is a platform company that enables the underemployed to earn commissions completing sales gigs for new age digital brands
Bangalore, India | June 16, 2022
Upaya Social Ventures (Upaya) today announced its investment in PickMyWork (Reculta Solutions Private Limited), a technology platform that assists digital commerce companies to acquire customers through assisted sales in both urban and rural geographies of India.
“PickMyWork is making the job market inclusive through its sales-gig platform by creating employment opportunities for the unemployed and under-employed youth, especially from the underserved communities. Their earn-as-you-learn model, which consists of capsule-sized learning and the flexibility to choose work, has found an excellent product-market fit with the youth. PickMyWork is poised to grow exponentially in the coming months with its seamless tech that interfaces with customers who are providing work and the youth that are looking for dignified, flexible jobs. We are excited to partner with the team.” - AB Chakravarthy, India Country Director at Upaya
India has a large youth population below the age of 25. Close to nine million are estimated to be educated youth with at least a graduate degree. Although educational attainment has increased rapidly in recent years, for many young Indians, gaining a foothold in the labor market remains elusive. PickMyWork acts as a digital employment platform that skills jobholders and provides them contractual job opportunities aided with weekly payments, flexible work hours, and short-term financial aid.
“The problem of educated but unemployed youth is massive in India and elsewhere. At Upaya, we see that PickMyWork is offering these youth a chance to earn money and hone their skills. If they choose to do this job for a short time or a long time, they are giving their partners more control in creating their futures.” - Kate Cochran, Upaya CEO.
PickMyWork was started by the three co-founders. Vidyarthi, Kajal, and Utsav initially ideated the company, then-called Reculta Solutions, in 2017 to solve the issue of educated unemployment. They launched as a college placement software platform for graduates from tier 2 and 3 cities of India. As the business evolved, they realized that they were tackling a larger problem of migration with the graduates, and pivoted to an online platform that provides contractual job opportunities for urban and rural unemployed.
"Associating with Upaya, with their focus on impact at the grassroots level, will help us with our mission in contributing to the following United Nations SDG goals - No Poverty, Zero Hunger, and Decent work and economic growth." - Vidyarthi Baddireddy, Co-Founder & CEO at PickMyWork
The investment from Upaya is part of a funding round that will be used for business development efforts, to increase partner presence across the country and also to introduce increased supplemental engagement and incentivisation tools. The company aims to enable the unemployed educated youth to work flexibly while simultaneously learning skills on the job, which qualifies them to pursue jobs or careers with growth prospects.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Madlin D’silva
mdsilva@upayasv.org