Founded in 2015 by Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni, Chaitanya Peddi and Vineet Singh, the firm has grown fivefold and is backed by global investors
By Ada Jain
Darwinbox, an Indian AI-enabled, mobile-first startup for hiring, onboarding and employee administration, has raised $140 million from KKR, Partners Group and to a small extent, Gravity Holdings in a funding round, according to a press release on Wednesday.
The startup is set to expand internationally, across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, United Kingdom, and especially the United States. Partners Group, one of the two lead investors in this round, is taking a $75 million stake in the company with this deal. In 2022, Darwinbox raised funding at a valuation of over $1 billion. Some of its clientele include Starbucks, Nivea, AXA, Cigna, WeWork, Crisil (an S&P company), and T-Systems.
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Since entering North America in 2023, the company has seen significant traction and is doubling down on its regional presence, the company said in a statement, adding that in the last two years, it has built a global portfolio, making a name for itself in the international markets.
The company’s revenue was up by 58% to $47.3 million or ₹393 crore in FY24, from $30 million or ₹249.5 crore in FY23. Currently, over 60% of its revenue comes from overseas. EBITDA margin, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, a measure of a company’s profitability, improved by 17% compared to the previous fiscal year. Although Darwinbox offers its services across varied domains, 50% of its revenue comes from the BFSI or banking, financial services and insurance, manufacturing, industrial, IT, and consulting sectors.
At present, the firm has about 1000 enterprise customers and nearly three million employees as end-users across 130 countries. It has also been recognized as the highest rated Enterprise HCM platform on Gartner Peer Insights, making it the youngest and only Asian company to receive the accolade.
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Founded in 2015 by Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni, Chaitanya Peddi and Vineet Singh, the firm has grown fivefold and is backed by global investors such as Netflix-backer TCV, Microsoft, Salesforce Ventures, Peak XV, Lightspeed Venture partners, and Sequoia among others.
“By placing the employee experience front and centre and ensuring our platform is deeply configurable to diverse local needs, we have helped transform HR for enterprises globally,” said Paleti, co-founder of Darwinbox. As the company expands, it is likely to compete with Sage, Oyster and larger firms like Rippling and Deel.