Bertelsmann India Investments Invests In Squad Stack
Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) has acquired a stake in the Indian start-up Squad Stack. BII led the $17.5 million “Series B” investment round for the company. Squad Stack sees itself as a modern, strongly tech-driven personnel marketplace based on SaaS (Software as a Service), which handles telesales tasks for corporate customers.
As reported, the Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) fund plans to invest around $500 million in startups in the coming years as part of Bertelsmann’s Boost 25 strategy. BII has now made one of its first “Boost” investments with a stake in the young company Squad Stack, which aims to turn the Indian telesales industry around. In a “Series B” investment round led by BII, investors are providing the start-up with 17.5 million US dollars to do so. Bertelsmann plans to invest a total of five to seven billion euros in the Boost program by 2025.
Squad Stack sees itself as a modern, strongly technology-driven personnel marketplace based on SaaS (Software as a Service), which performs telesales tasks for corporate customers. Founded in 2017, the startup relies heavily on data science, artificial intelligence, and a decentralized network of sales experts. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work and the variabilization of cost structures have emerged as key trends in the Indian economy, says the company. Squad Stack’s technology allows sales professionals to work from anywhere using a smartphone. The company says it will use the new funds to hire top talent and strengthen its team for further expansion. It also plans to expand into new industries. Squad Stack itself now has more than 200 employees working in Noida, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Goa and Mumbai, and soon in Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Its network now comprises more than 10,000 telesales representatives.
In total, there are more than seven million telesales representatives in India, according to Squad Stack, who sell all kinds of products including loans, credit cards, insurance, education, and health and wellness products and services to an average 20 million customers every day. “ We’re working towards revolutionizing the ₹80,000 crore Indian telesales industry that lacks innovation,” said Apurv Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of Squad Stack. “ Our combined solution of technology and human expertise solves a negative ROI problem for businesses and financially uplifts sales talent across the country.” He said the company is looking to significantly expand its team, and believes that in the long run, great products and profits result from having a great team and a great work culture. “ We’re excited to partner with the BII team who have deep experience in scaling large platform businesses globally,” added Agrawal.
Rohit Sood, Partner, Bertelsmann India Investments commented,” We have a strong bullish thesis on ‘future of work’ and Squad Stack fits strongly in that as their technology provides ownership and flexibility to the large, diverse and distributed sales talent in the country. We instantly formed a connection with the founding team as we have strong convictions in their data and product driven approach to this complex problem. We are excited to partner them in this journey to transform the sales outsourcing landscape.”
