Quikr acquires Babajob to cash in on the blue collar jobs segment

Online classifieds portal Quikr India Pvt Ltd has acquired job listing company Babajob Services Pvt Ltd in an attempt to strengthen its position in the blue collar jobs segment.

“This will combine the two largest Indian aspiring job players—Babajob and QuikrJobs— into one entity. The Babajob board, Vir (Vir Kashyap, co-founder and COO) and I decided that joining forces with Quikr represented our best option for scaling Babajob’s mission—providing better jobs for everyone by helping employers digitally hire aspiring workers,” Sean Blagsvedt, co-founder and CEO at Babajob, said in an email.

Blagsvedt said that QuikrJobs, the classifieds company’s job listing service, is already profitable and the combined entity of Babajob and QuikrJobs will become the largest platform for blue collar job seekers.

The companies did not divulge details of the deal. Blagsvedt and Kashyap will quit the company following the acquisition.

Babajob will continue to operate as a separate entity, said a Quikr spokesperson.

Babajob, founded in 2007, has raised at least $10 million in multiple funding rounds. Its investors include SEEK Ltd, a global online employment company, GrayGhost Ventures and Khosla Impact. According to Blagsvedt, 8.5 million verified job seekers sought jobs from more than 500,000 employers on Babajob.