There was a time when companies used to take attendance of the staffs on paper books. After that, the finance department used to calculate the salary of all staffs based on their designations and monthly work. It was a tedious task. And a lot of mistakes used to happen in this process.
To simplify such processes, Adarsh Kumar and Rupesh Kumar Mishra founded PagarBook in 2019. The app helps the organizations in staff management including attendance, holidays, extra pay calculations, etc. With the help of the PagarBook app, a firm can create staff payroll with a single click. OkCredit and Khatabook are the major competitors of PagarBook.
Exponential Growth of PagarBook
PagarBook, a Bengaluru-based startup, grew rapidly in a short time. The platform has over 7 lakh active partners that are using PagarBook to manage their employees.
Pagarbook is a free app that helps in staff management services like attendance, work, Payroll management, and employees’ salary to small and medium businesses. The app got immense popularity on Google Play Store. With an average user rating of 4.3, it has over 5 million downloads on Play Store.
As per the report published in July 2020, the firm has registered over 4 million SMEs in the last six months. And the app is available in 11 Indian languages including English, Hindi, Hinglish, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu. Odia.
Within six months of PagarBook launch, the startup has covered 6000+ pin codes in India. As per PagarBook latest claim, it has 50 lakh registered SME’s as its clients from 650 districts of India.
Akshay Kumar Joins PagarBook
By 2022, the startup wants to register 10 million+ users on its platform. To achieve this goal, PagarBook has collaborated with Akshay Kumar, the Bollywood superstar. The Bollywood actor has joined PagarBook as a brand ambassador till 2022.
Talking about his association with PagarBook, Akshay Kumar said:
“PagarBook’s USP is that it truly represents the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat, something I am very passionate about. To have touched the lives of so many small and medium business owners in a short span of 6 months and impact the way they run their business is exceptional, and that is the kind of performance and passion I support.”
Talking about Akshay association with PagarBook, Rupesh Mishra, Co-founder, PagarBook said:
“We’re a very Bharat kind of a brand and we’re talking to small business owners who have come up their hard way. So, Akshay was an organic fitment for our brand in that sense. He also doesn’t have any kind of Godfather in Bollywood and he has reached this stature all by himself. So when Akshay endorses, it looks pretty simple and people think he’s someone like me.”
Sivaprasad K, Sr. Vice President, Marketing and Sales, PagarBook further added:
“Our ethos is focused on solving the most challenging problems faced by the SME sector. The goodwill of India, the common Indian, is something that we strive towards, and this is where there was great synchrony with Akshay”.
Financial Growth of PagarBook
PagarBook has raised around $20 million in funding from its existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Surge Ventures, and Kunal Shah’s QED Innovation. Among them, Sequoia is the leading investor in PagarBook. In December 2020, it concluded a $15 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Talking about Sequoia Capital’s latest investment, an insider said:
“Impressed with the initial traction, Sequoia is set to double down its stake in PagarBook. The talks have been on for the past two months and a term sheet has already been given by Sequoia.”
In the latest funding round on June 2, 2021, the firm has raised $4.4 million in a new financing round led by Moneta Ventures, A$AP Capital, AngelList and PA Fund I. Current funding helped PagarBook to reach a valuation of over $100 million. The startup doubled its valuation from $50 million to $100 million within 6 months, as per Entrackr report.
Talking about PagarBook growth, Rupesh Kumar Mishra, co-founder of PagarBook said:
“India’s 60 million SMEs and its 400 million large workforces contribute roughly 30% of India’s GDP, but still lack a verified financial and professional footprint in any organised technology ecosystem. As a result, they are left out of the mainstream financial ecosystem. At PagarBook, we address this massive gap with our digital human capital platform for SME’s.”
Initially, PagarBook was the only startup under the staff management category for 8 to 10 months. The arrival of OkCredit and Khatabook has made things difficult for PagarBook due to their deep pockets.
