Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Nirmit Parikh built India's youngest unicorn Apna in a matter of just 2 years.
When Nirmit Parikh decided to create jobs platform Apna for India’s blue-collared sector in 2019, it wasn’t his first foray into the startup circuit. Parikh had been a serial entrepreneur for over a decade. However, this time he was on a mission to solve problems for the working class professionals. At that time, he was working with global tech giant Apple as part of the product and strategy team for iPhone.
Parikh’s first stint in the startup world dates back to 2009. At 21 years of age, he founded a company solving the problem of managing floods called Incone. The company’s work also took Parikh to the platform of World Economic Forum as a Global Shaper.
He then created a company called Cruxbox which was eventually acquired by Intel. This took Parikh to the coveted Silicon Valley and the young entrepreneur became the director of data analytics at Intel. Having a lucrative techie career in the US is a dream come true for most. Parikh then joined another legendary tech corporation in Apple, working on the iPhone. However, his heart was seemingly set on a different kind of project.
Seeing a gap in the employment landscape for blue-collared jobs in India, he took on the challenge and decided to found a platform that can enable a more convenient and efficient job portal for frontline workers.
He then quit his job as a techie at Apple and returned to India just before the Covid-19 pandemic to create the startup which turned unicorn in a matter of two years. In fact, Parikh also went undercover as a factor worker to understand the nuances just before the pandemic hit, it was reported.
His vision reportedly is to bring about a “radical cultural and social change” for the Indian society with the use of “ubiquitous technology”.
The platform’s Android app has more than 1 crore downloads today. The company grew at a fierce speed of 125 percent in a matter of two years. The company had stated earlier in the year that its services were being leveraged by more than 1.5 lakh Indian companies and it has enabled over 10 crore interviews.
The company eventually turned a unicorn with a $1.1 billion valuation after a $100 million funding in Series C led by none other than Tiger Global. Apna counts several brands including the likes of Shadowfax, Zomato, Delhivery, G4S Global and Burger King among the ones that leverage it to meet their workforce demands.
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