bluworks, an Egypt-based startup developing blue-collar HRTech SaaS solutions, has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round led by Saudi venture capital firm Khawarizmi Ventures. The funding round also witnessed participation from Camel Ventures, Acasia Ventures, and a pool of angel investors. With this investment round, the company plans to build and enhance its product, as well as expand its team, with the ultimate goal of becoming the top destination for companies seeking to optimize the management of blue-collar workers in the region and in need of a process to vet, hire, train, place and manage their workforce.
bluworks, founded in 2022 by Farah Osman, Hussein Wahdan, and Nour Ahmadein, is not just another HR solution. It’s a mobile-first, all-in-one platform designed specifically for frontline/blue-collar employees in industries such as retail, F&B, facility management, healthcare, education, and construction. Its unique approach includes automating various HR and operational tasks, optimizing costs, and leveraging data for decision-making. By unifying and collecting data points for companies employing blue-collar workers, the firm bridges the gap between operations, HR, and the workers, making it a standout solution in the market.
Speaking on the fundraising, Farah Osman, Co-founder of bluworks, said:
Having a strong workforce is integral to building and fortifying sustainable businesses. We are excited about getting strategic investors on board who can provide us with access to local and regional markets, which we are looking to expand. There is no shortage of industry use cases similar to Egypt worldwide, and we are eager to tackle them with our innovative workforce management solutions.
The Middle East and Africa are not just regions but home to over 50 million blue-collar workers. Currently, performance and attendance metrics about these workers are collected manually by several departments across companies through different manual and automated systems. Given the dynamic nature of blue-collar work conditions, even routine tasks like payroll calculation become incredibly difficult and complex for companies. This presents a massive market opportunity for bluworks’ innovative HR solution.
Co-founder Hussein Wahdan noted that with so many HR software on the market, not one is built to manage blue-collar workers. And this is where the HR SaaS startup comes in. Wadan added:
Since managing this workforce is so manual, errors frequently occur, leading to penalties and deducted salaries with no oversight from the workers, causing them to leave and ultimately contributing to high turnover rates. Companies can spend about 7-10 days just closing their payroll accounts, but with bluworks, this time can be cut down to one day – all while leveraging data and insights on their workforce.
bluworks is not just a promising startup; it’s already making a significant impact. With thousands of blue-collar workers on its platform and a growing list of clients, including Crave, Qahwa, and Cilantro, the startup is proving its value in the market. The company’s focus on the F&B and retail sectors, with plans to expand to other sectors, such as manufacturing, construction, and facility management, further demonstrates its potential for growth and success.
Venture Partner at Khwarizmii Ventures Ameer Sherif, commented:
Egypt has one of the largest workforce populations in the MENA and Africa region; however, there are only so many genuinely localized software solutions. Like many emerging markets, solutions to automate workforce management still need to be improved. The bluworks team has the right mix of local understanding and commercial and technical capability to lead this space in Egypt and later in other regional markets.
