Mumbai: Mobile payments and e-commerce firm, Paytm (One97 Communications Ltd) said on Friday that it had invested an undisclosed amount in online consultation platform TapChief (Pilani Experts Technology Labs Pvt. Ltd). TapChief will use the funds for product development.

Angel investors including Aprameya Radhakrishna (founder, TaxiForSure), Subramanya Venkat (co-founder, Fisdom and former managing director, Bessemer Venture Partners), Venk Krishnan (managing partner, NuVentures), among others, also participated in this round of funding.

“Having seen over 50,000 minutes worth of interactions on the platform, the backing of a strong consumer-centric brand like Paytm will help us gear up for the next phase of growth", TapChief’s co-founder and chief executive officer Shashank Murali said in a statement.

Founded in February 2016, by Murali, Binay Krishna and Arjun Krishna, TapChief connects users such as students and start-ups seeking career and business advice to experienced professionals.

The company claims to have listed 5,000 professionals such as chief operating officers, entrepreneurs, consultants and senior executives from over 2,000 organizations. Users can choose with whom they would like to connect, book a time slot and receive consultation on the phone. Students can get trained for job interviews by professionals from a company of their choice.

Over 40% of these professionals serve on a pro-bono basis, that is they do not charge for the consultation, a company statement said.

“There is a strong onus on skill development across sectors as India’s start-up landscape evolves. The incredible team at TapChief are doing a great job at supporting this wave of young dynamism, and Paytm is happy to be a part of its growth story." said Madhur Deora, chief financial officer, Paytm.

Bengaluru-based TapChief is a team of eight, which has its eye on clocking 1.5-2 million minutes of consultation by December 2017, Murli said in an phone interview. A typical consulting session lasts 15 minutes for which a user, on average, pays Rs250-350. In the next one year, the company is looking to introduce more skills-specific consulting, such as for data analytics, added Murli. For any paid session, TapChief earns 20-30% of the fee as commission, while the remaining goes to the consulting professional.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Share Via