Hunar.AI secures ₹40 crore Series A to scale conversational AI for frontline workforce management

Hunar.AI has raised ₹40 crore in a Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures, bringing fresh capital to its efforts to scale conversational AI for frontline workforce management. The round also includes participation from Hyderabad Angels Fund, Together Fund, Seedstars, AVNM Ventures, PhysicsWallah co-founders Prateek Maheshwari and Alakh Pandey, and MediaMint co-founder Aditya Vuchi.

Founded in 2022 by Krishna Khandelwal and Shantanu Bhattacharyya, the Bengaluru-based company develops AI agents that help organisations source, engage, hire, onboard, train and retain frontline workers. The company plans to deploy the new capital towards AI infrastructure, product development and go-to-market expansion.

The funding comes as employers across quick commerce, logistics, retail, mobility and other frontline-intensive sectors manage large, distributed workforces that require frequent communication and coordination.

Building Conversational AI for Frontline Workforces

Traditional workforce management systems often rely on dashboards, forms and application-based workflows. For businesses managing thousands of frontline workers across multiple locations, these systems can leave significant amounts of communication and follow-up dependent on manual processes.

Hunar.AI takes a conversational approach, using AI agents to manage interactions through voice calls, WhatsApp and chat. Its platform is designed to support recruitment and workforce operations, including candidate sourcing and screening, interview scheduling, onboarding, training and employee engagement.

The company offers solutions through Hunar Voice and Hunar Connect, targeting organisations that need to communicate with large workforces across different locations and languages.

According to the company, its AI agents handled more than 15 million conversations in September 2026, with volumes doubling every quarter. Its customers include Swiggy, Delhivery, Instamart, Pronto, Blue Dart, Flipkart, Aditya Birla Capital and Tata Croma.

Funding to Strengthen AI Infrastructure and Expansion

The Series A investment will support Hunar.AI's technology development and commercial expansion. The company is investing in its AI models, orchestration systems, contextual intelligence and evaluation capabilities to improve reliability across high-volume enterprise deployments.

Krishna Khandelwal, Co-founder and CEO of Hunar.AI, said the funding would help deepen the company's technology capabilities, strengthen its AI infrastructure and expand its reach across industries and markets.

The company's focus is on developing specialised AI around the workflows of frontline-intensive industries rather than relying solely on general-purpose AI applications. These environments often involve high-volume hiring, geographically distributed teams and multilingual communication, creating operational challenges for conventional HR systems.

Hunar.AI is also moving towards outcome-based pricing models, aligning its commercial approach more closely with the business results delivered by its platform.

Investors Back AI for Frontline Operations

Blume Ventures led the funding round, joined by institutional investors and individual backers with experience across technology, entrepreneurship and venture investing.

Arpit Agrawal, Partner at Blume Ventures, highlighted India's growing role in frontline innovation, pointing to the complexity of operations across quick commerce, at-home services and logistics. He said Hunar.AI's focus on business outcomes could help it build a category with potential to scale beyond India.

The participation of Hyderabad Angels Fund, Together Fund, Seedstars and AVNM Ventures adds further investor support to the company's expansion plans. The round also includes investments from PhysicsWallah co-founders Prateek Maheshwari and Alakh Pandey, alongside MediaMint co-founder Aditya Vuchi.

The latest funding brings Hunar.AI's total funding raised to approximately ₹65 crore.

Addressing a Growing Workforce Challenge

India's expanding gig and frontline economy is creating new demands for businesses that recruit and manage workers at scale. NITI Aayog has projected that India's gig workforce could grow from approximately one crore workers in 2024–25 to 2.35 crore by 2029–30.

As businesses expand across cities and regions, recruitment and workforce management increasingly require consistent communication, faster onboarding and ongoing employee engagement. Managing these processes through manual calls and fragmented systems can become difficult as workforce volumes increase.

Hunar.AI aims to address these challenges by embedding conversational AI into workforce operations, enabling businesses to manage interactions and automate repetitive processes at scale.

With its latest funding, the company plans to strengthen its technology foundation and expand its market reach as enterprises look for new ways to improve frontline workforce operations.

About Hunar.AI

Hunar.AI is a Bengaluru-based conversational AI company founded in 2022 by Krishna Khandelwal and Shantanu Bhattacharyya. The company develops AI agents that help organisations manage frontline workforce operations, including hiring, onboarding, training and employee engagement. Its solutions use voice, WhatsApp and chat to support high-volume workforce interactions across industries and languages.

Source and Credits: Hunar.AI funding announcement