Nirmit Parikh is the founder and CEO of Apna, a professional networking platform for blue and grey-collar workers in India. With a mission to empower and uplift the workforce in the country, Parikh has created a platform that connects job seekers with employers and helps them build their professional networks.
Prior to founding Apna, Parikh worked at Apple, where he gained valuable experience in product management and marketing. He also co-founded Cruxbot, an AI-powered news summarization platform, which was later acquired by Intel. Parikh’s experience in the tech industry, coupled with his passion for social impact, led him to create Apna in 2019.
He has been a guardian angel for many unemployed Indians, through the Apna app he has served more than 1 Crore+ people Thus bringing India back to work & bringing a smile to people’s faces. With Parikh at the helm, Apna has the potential to revolutionize the job market in India and improve the lives of millions of workers.
Since its launch, Apna has gained significant traction, with over 10 million users and $70 million in funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed India. The platform has also expanded its services beyond job listings, offering upskilling courses and financial services to its users.
Nirmit was born and raised in India. He grew up in a middle-class family in a small town in Gujarat. His parents were both teachers and instilled in him a love of learning from a young age.
Parikh attended the Nirma Institute of Technology in Ahmedabad. After completing his undergraduate studies, Parikh went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University in California. While at Stanford, he was exposed to the world of entrepreneurship and startups, which sparked his interest in creating something of his own.
Throughout his education, Parikh developed a strong foundation in computer science and technology, which would prove to be invaluable in his future endeavors. His academic achievements and passion for innovation laid the groundwork for his future success as a tech entrepreneur.
Founding of Apna:
He noticed that there were not enough job opportunities for manual labor jobs in India. He wanted to make it easier for people to find those types of jobs, so he created a new website for job searching. He left his job at Apple and moved back to India to start this company just before Covid-19.
Apna is a professional networking platform for blue and grey-collar workers. The idea for Apna came to Parikh while he was visiting his family in India and noticed the lack of professional networking opportunities for workers in the informal sector.
Apna launched in December 2019 and quickly gained traction, with over a million users signing up within the first year. The platform has been successful in connecting workers with job opportunities, as well as providing them with access to upskilling and training resources.
Within two years, the company became very successful and worth a lot of money. The company became worth over $1 billion, which is called a unicorn after it received $100 million in funding from a group led by Tiger Global in its Series C funding round.
Parikh’s vision for Apna has been to empower workers in the informal sector by providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed. Through his leadership, Apna has become a leading player in the professional networking space, with the potential to transform the way blue and grey-collar workers connect and find work opportunities.
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