Indian fintech startup Bueno Finance has merged with blue-collar workforce management company BetterPlace, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Bueno provides loans to blue-collar workers, while BetterPlace manages blue-collar workers. Both companies count food delivery companies Swiggy and Zomato as clients. The acquisition was reportedly prompted by Bueno’s failure to raise funds and BetterPlace’s interest in entering the lending space. Bueno raised $3m in total funding as part of Y-Combinator’s Winter 2021 batch.
BetterPlace has raised $80m from investors including Macquarie Capital and Jungle Ventures. The acquisition follows a series of acquisitions by BetterPlace, including OLX People, AasaanJobs, Oust Labs, Waah Jobs, OkayGo and EzeDox. This year, the company entered the Southeast Asian market with the acquisitions of Indonesia’s MyRobin and Malaysia’s Troopers.
Saurav Gandhi, one of Bueno’s co-founders, declined to comment on the merger, while a query sent to BetterPlace went unanswered. Sandeep Arora, Bueno’s other co-founder, left the company last year after a disagreement with Gandhi and investor Goat Capital.