Mumbai: Funngro, a platform that offers teenagers an opportunity to earn money through real-life freelancing projects, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed round.
Funngro raised funds from Shark Tank judge Amit Jain, CarDekho’sfounder, and Emcure Pharmaceutical’s Namita Thapar. Early-stage investment firm SucSeed Indovation Fund also participated in the round.
Founded by two seasoned professionals with a great mix of technology and business experience, Payal Jain and Anik Jain, Funngro empowers Teenagers by providing paid freelancing opportunities. It aims to teach economic empowerment among teenagers early on so that they are ready to face the work environment in the future and find their true passion.
Speaking on the investment, Vikrant Varshney, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of SucSEED Indovation Fund, said, “Funngro is India’s first Teenlancerprogram focused on empowering Indian teens to learn, earn and manage their financial welfare. India has a sizable population of adolescents, and this vast population now has access to technology and skills in tier 1 and tier 2 cities and is looking for increased opportunities. India’s freelance community is projected to grow to $20-30 billion by 2025, and the forecast suggests that the online freelance marketplace could add $2.7 trillion to the global GDP by 2025. We feel Funngro could be the go-to platform for learning and earning and managing finances for teenagers in the country. It aims to acquire 5.5 million users in the next three years.”
On her investment, Namita Thapar said, “Today’s teens are ready to take on the world. Funngro provides them with a platform where they can learn and earn. Let’s empower and support them!”
To this Amit Jain added, “India’s future is in the hands of the next generation. I am excited to work with Funngro in the mission of helping youngsters find their true calling. I strongly believe that real learning comes with the experience of dealing with real-world scenarios and am excited to create an impact on 20 crore youngsters.”
Funngro, incubated at India’s first fintech incubator Afthonia Lab in 2021, plans to use the funds on product development and step up its marketing activities to onboard more and more teen-lancers (teen freelancers).
Tanul Mishra, Founder of Afthonia Lab, said, “When we incubated Funngro, their vision was to create a Teenlancer program that imparted India’s young and untapped with financial knowledge and wisdom. A completely untapped and growing segment, and this vision made us back them. Funngro is helping teens get their first pay cheques.”
On the fundraiser, Funngro’s Founder Payal Jain said, “Funngro’s vision is to ensure that each Teenager identifies their passion and makes it as their profession. It needed a large platform like Shark Tank to reach our target audience. Funngro and Shark Tank aim to introduce teenagers to new employment choices, encourage them to pursue entrepreneurial objectives, teach business skills, enhance their financial literacy, and inculcate critical thinking.”
Since its inception, Funngro has already onboarded over four lakh teenagers on the platform who have received projects from over 1000 companies in 12 different sectors.
