BetterPlace Acquires Workforce Management Platform OkayGo
BetterPlace, India’s full-stack tech platform for frontline workforce management, announced the acquisition of OkayGo, an on-demand blue-collared gig workforce management platform for enterprises, for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition aims to reduce the cost of hiring for enterprises by 15-20% by providing them with a pool of pre-skilled and pre-verified workers ready to be deployed for short-term tasks.
Through this acquisition, BetterPlace will lead the charge for providing the right opportunities for India’s 90mn strong gig-workforce by enhancing the offerings of BetterPlace Select, the company’s short term, long term and task based workforce management offering. Through a marketplace model, OkayGo and BetterPlace will collaboratively narrow the demand and supply gap for gig-workforce in India and solve the inefficiencies of idle time and attrition. This integration will enable frontline workers to increase their daily and hourly earnings an average of 25-30%.
Commenting on this acquisition, Pravin Agarwala, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at BetterPlace said, “Despite having a large employable pool, enterprises in India are now facing an acute shortage of skilled workforce. The only way to solve this problem is to provide a mutually beneficial marketplace geared towards enabling people to be gainfully employed. This acquisition is a major step towards that direction, allowing us to inch closer to our goal of building a better world for enterprises and frontline workers in India.”
With enterprises moving towards a gig-model for their operations, India’s blue and grey-collar gig-economy is growing rapidly. BetterPlace has been formalizing this industry through technology in a way which uplifts the dignity and wellbeing of the frontline and gig-workforce. This acquisition will consolidate the frontline workforce management space in India and make BetterPlace the largest player in this space.
Commenting on the acquisition, Tomonaga Tejima, Co-founder at OkayGo said, “We started OkayGo with a clear vision to empower half a billion people to get flexible gig-opportunities and provide businesses with high quality talent instantly. BetterPlace would provide us a fillip to achieve our vision.” Tomonaga is a 3x entrepreneur and ran a Sushi cloud kitchen venture called Sushi Junction before starting OkayGo.
“With enterprises revisiting their operating models, there is a huge scope for creating new gig-jobs and scaling the existing ones. OkayGo provides multiple gig opportunities across enterprises for blue collar workers to increase their earnings per hour and optimize their daily work. This acquisition would not only provide more opportunities for frontline workers, but also revolutionize business operations in a significant way,” Saurav Chawla, Co-Founder, OkayGo added. Saurav is a serial entrepreneur and founded a retail cafe chain called Fifth Avenue Bakery and Cafe before starting OkayGo.
