Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) startup SquadStack has raised Rs 140 crore ($17.5 million) in a series B round led by Bertelsmann India Investments, with participation from existing investors Chiratae Ventures and Blume Ventures.

On August 9, the startup said it aims to use the funding to hire top talent and strengthen its workforce for expansion. It also plans to expand its base of sales experts and further expand into new verticals.

SquadStack is a SaaS-enabled marketplace for sales talent and was founded by Apurv Agrawal, Vikas Gulati, and Kanika Jain in 2017. The startup includes artificial intelligence data science and a decentralised network of sales experts to help in better conversions. It serves real estate, financial services, education, healthcare, and retail industries.

SquadStack works with existing sales talent and housewives so they can work from anywhere with the help of a smartphone.

SquadStack’s team operates on a hybrid working model in five cities of Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Goa and Mumbai, and will add three more cities in the coming months, namely Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.

In 2018, SquadStack launched its sales acceleration platform SquadVoice (now SquadIQ) in India. Its clients include Walmart, Time Group, Delhivery, Nestaway, Upstox, ZestMoney and Zomato.

In September 2020, the SaaS company raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Chiratae Ventures. Existing investor Blume Ventures also participated in the round. In 2017, SquadStack raised $2.1 million in a pre-Series A round led by Blume Ventures.