Hala Mobility seeks $14m to build a gig worker ecosystem

Hyderabad-based Hala Mobility is raising around US$14.1 million (over 1.3 billion rupees) in series A funding at a pre-money valuation of about US$78.5 million, confirms co-founder and CEO Srikanth Reddy.

The round is primarily an equity raise and will be used to expand Hala’s fleet, upgrade its technology, and scale its workforce.

Photo credit: Hala Mobility/Facebook

The company has received commitments for around US$5 million, or about 36% of the round, Reddy tells Tech in Asia in an exclusive interview. Investors have started due diligence on the committed portion of the fundraise.

Founded by Reddy and Snehith Reddy Meda in 2019, Hala started out as an electric vehicle rental business.

It has since pivoted and is trying to build what Reddy describes as a “360 degree” ecosystem around gig workers, helping them access credit, insurance, and even housing.

This builds on an idea that’s already being tested in the gig economies of South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Companies are using the large amounts of data generated by workers on digital platforms to help them access credit. Many of these workers are often new to financing and are shut out by banks, leaving them dependent on informal lenders that charge high interest rates.

Grab, for example, has used non-traditional data such as rides accepted, driving patterns, customer ratings, and earnings to help profile its drivers. Digital banks like KakaoBank also use alternative data for credit assessment.

Hala’s goal of building a wider ecosystem takes this logic a step further.

To help with housing, for instance, the company recently launched a facility with 260 rooms in Hyderabad. The center has a cafeteria, a gym, and comes with Wi-Fi.

“Many of India’s gig workers travel hundreds of kilometres from their hometowns and villages to find work in major cities. And they come from poorer states, smaller towns with limited means and few connections in cities,” Reddy says. “That’s why we want to solve for housing.”

For now, Hala is largely focused on those working for food delivery platforms such as Zomato, Zepto, Swiggy, BigBasket, and Blinkit.

Although the company zooms in on gig worker welfare, its business model is healthy.