Indian HR Tech Ecosystem’s $15M Funding

Are you looking to take your HR process to the next level?

Darwinbox, an Indian HR startup, has raised US$15M from Salesforce Ventures – giving you the perfect opportunity to enhance your operations.

With this move, Darwinbox is on track to revolutionize HR management!

Introduction

Darwinbox, an Indian Human Resources (HR) tech startup, has announced that it has raised US$15 million in funding from Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of San Francisco-based cloud software firm Salesforce.

This is the first single-digit-million funding in 2019 for an Indian startup and the largest amount raised by Darwinbox since its establishment in 2015. The investment will bring innovation to the HR tech space in India and across Asia, expanding Darwinbox’s offerings beyond its current products, such as its HR platform and suite of tools for employee engagement.

The Hyderabad-based startup serves over 100 customers across India, Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East. In addition, it works with companies like Facebook, Snapdeal and Oyo Rooms to help them optimally manage their HR operations. To date, Darwinbox has raised $20 million from its investors—MBI International Ventures (now renamed Nexus Venture Partners), Endiya Partners and others.

With this latest injection of capital, Darwinbox aims to accelerate growth in India and other markets in Asia Pacific region through enhanced product development capabilities and continuing investments into digital adoption initiatives for customers. The company also intends to deploy funds into expanding its presence and leadership teams across international markets like Singapore, Indonesia etc.

Overview of Indian HR Tech Startup Darwinbox

Darwinbox is an Indian Human Resources Technology (HRTech) startup founded in 2015 by Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni and Chaitanya Peddi. They provide software for the HR operations of large companies, including employee journey management and workforce analytics. Darwinbox offers end-to-end recruitment and talent management solutions to its clients, ranging from fortune 500 companies to growing startups. The company has established a presence in India, Southeast Asia, Middle East and the United States to serve customers across these regions.

In mid-May 2020, Darwinbox announced that it had raised a US$15M Series B round led by Salesforce Ventures India Fund with participation from existing investors Lightspeed India and Endiya Partners. This follows an earlier Series A funding round of US$4M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2016, followed by a US$8M Series A1 investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Endiya Partners and GrowX Ventures in April 2018. In total, Darwinbox has now raised more than US$27 million in equity investments since 2016.

With this new round of funding, the HRtech startup plans to further accelerate product development and bolster sales and marketing efforts to expand its reach globally. This also marks the largest ever Series B funding for any HRtech startup globally within five years since its founding.

Overview of Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce Ventures is the strategic investment arm of Salesforce. Their mission is to invest in innovative solutions and disruptive technologies that help Salesforce’s customers – companies of all sizes and industries – connect with their customers in new ways. In addition, they invest in companies that allow them to extend the value of Salesforce solutions, further enabling their customers’ success across industries and markets.

Committed to long-term support of their portfolio, they invest in startups at all stages of development – from seed through growth – providing these entrepreneurs with mentorship, acceleration opportunities, resources, and a wealth of knowledge from prior investments and the ever-growing Salesforce ecosystem.

Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 500+ startups, which comprise more than $1 billion in funding. Their focus areas include: cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), data & analytics, IoT, ecommerce, mobile apps & enterprise software. Their investments span multiple categories – from early-stage disruptors to enterprise application providers that match the needs of large organizations like sales productivity tools and marketing automation software.

Indian HR Tech Startup Darwinbox Raises US$15M From Salesforce Ventures

Indian HR tech startup Darwinbox announced on the 20th of November that it had closed a US$15M Series-B round led by Salesforce Ventures. The investment is set to be used by Darwinbox to deep dive into existing markets, establish operations in the U.S and expand its product footprint in new hr domains.

Other investors that participated in this round were Microsoft’s venture arm M12, Sequoia India and Endiya Partners who also provided follow-on funding after the previous series A investment at the beginning of 2019. This fresh injection of funds brings Darwinbox’s total funding to US$25M from venture capital firms and strategic investors.

The US$15M funding would also be used to sustain growth momentum for aggressive innovation and international expansion, giving global corporations access to innovative workforce solutions. With this new round of funds, Darwinbox is now well placed to establish deeper partnerships with global corporates who can leverage its suite of solutions for their digital transformation objectives.

Benefits of the Investment

The $15 million investment by Salesforce Ventures into HR tech startup Darwinbox is a significant achievement for the company, as it strengthens its mission to help organizations optimize HR processes, while also providing them with timely insights into the performance of their human capital. The investment is expected to have far-reaching benefits for Darwinbox and its customers, including:

• Expansion of offerings: With this backing, Darwinbox can expand its suite of products and services, enabling organizations across the globe to access powerful HR systems. This will help them manage employee operations more efficiently and effectively.

• Greater visibility: This investment has brought much-needed visibility to the Human Resources (HR) technology industry which will encourage both existing players and potential new entrants.

• Access to resources: The infusion of funds gives Darwinbox access to funds that can be used towards research, development and marketing thereby enabling them to increase their technological capabilities and reach out to more customers.

• Improved customer experience: The investments made by Salesforce Ventures should improve customer experience as they can leverage accessible solutions that are designed keeping in mind their needs — such as automated workflows, data analytics and streamlined procedures — for better efficiency.

Impact of the Investment

The investment of US$15M in India based HR Tech startup Darwinbox has been seen as a unique opportunity to reach the next level of growth in India’s booming HR technology sector. The new funding will allow Darwinbox to further strengthen its product and services offerings, build cutting-edge technology, and expand its operations and market presence.

Darwinbox CEO Jayant Paleti stated that the funding comes when organizations transform their HR processes with data-driven insights and technological innovation. He believes that this partnership with Salesforce Ventures will help Darwinbox reach the next level of growth. The company plans to use this capital for product development, scaling customer success capabilities, building out global sales and marketing capabilities, and expanding its operations to more markets worldwide.

This investment also provides an opportunity for Salesforce Ventures to get access to a robust Indian tech ecosystem which has tremendous potential for growth due to favorable government policies as well as discounts on services tax. In addition, it is expected that this investment will help promote greater collaboration between Darwinbox and Salesforce platforms which can provide customers various benefits such as optimized HR processes, improved overall performance metrics & better employee experience.

This new collaboration is likely to improve efficiency across the HR function, thus helping organizations become smarter with their hiring process while driving greater value in success metrics across their human resource management initiatives.

Future Plans of Darwinbox

Darwinbox, an Indian HR Tech startup, has recently closed a Series B funding round of US$15 million from Salesforce Ventures, the venture arm of Salesforce. Darwinbox plans to expand its cloud-based human resources software platform across India and Southeast Asia with this fresh capital. The company also looks forward to strengthening its product suite with analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Darwinbox plans on investing in two key areas: people and technology to further strengthen its HR Tech platform. The company will use the proceeds to fund research & development initiatives aiming to develop innovative capabilities. It will also invest significantly in Talent Acquisition and Learning & Development programs to hire more employees specializing in core technologies like AI/ML and Data Sciences. Furthermore, it intends to invest in growth marketing initiatives to increase brand awareness across India and other Southeast Asian countries.

As part of its long-term expansion strategy, Darwinbox plans to expand into new markets with the help of strategic partnerships and M&A activities. As a first step towards international expansion, it has signed an agreement with STJobs Technologies Pte Ltd., a Subsidiary Company of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) for partnering exclusive rights for the Singapore market. Additionally, it seeks collaboration with industry leaders such as Nasscom to help startup companies gain exposure through programs like 10K Start Ups Initiative or Global Accelerator Program (GAP). Altogether these activities will enable Darwinbox to effectively accelerate its growth across different countries within Southeast Asia as well as India over the next couple of years.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the successful capital raising from Salesforce Ventures demonstrates the continued strength of Indian startups in the technology market. With this funding injection, Darwinbox stands to expand its HR software offerings and reach out to an even wider customer base, as well as further strengthening its position in the sector.

The investment also represents a vote of confidence in the long-term prospects for Darwinbox’s products. It is expected to help propel the company towards further success in years to come.

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