[Funding alert] HRtech platform Darwinbox raises $15M strategic investment from Salesforce Ventures

Darwinbox, an enterprise HRtech platform, has closed a $15 million funding round led by Salesforce Ventures.

The company had raised its Series B round in September 2019, led by Sequoia Capital India with participation from existing investors Lightspeed India, Endiya Partners, and 3one4 Capital. This brings the total investment in the HRtech enterprise to $35 million.

The company’s revenues have grown by over 300 percent since the last round of funding. Founder Chaitanya Peddi told YourStory that the number of clients had gone from 200 to 500 over the last year.

"We will be focused on markets such as the Middle East, Africa, and South East Asia. We may also enter the US market. With Salesforce Ventures as the strategic investor, we will be able to scale globally and jointly enter the market with them. We will leverage the new investment to speed the introduction of exciting new solutions and advance R&D to deploy deep-technology capabilities," said Chaitanya.

Founded by Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti, and Rohit Chennamaneni, Darwinbox helps enterprises empower, engage and elevate the potential of their workforce through its hire-to-retire Human Capital Management (HCM) platform. The startup says its product has been received well in the enterprise segment due to its understanding of Asian job markets, ease of use (with mobile centricity), and high configurability. It competes with SAP, Oracle, and other established vendors.

ALSO READ

Kolkata-based startup Asanify is simplifying payroll compliances and HR operations for SMBs

“Cloud adoption in Asia is growing at a monumental pace and the pandemic has only further amplified the importance of going digital,” said Alex Kayyal, Partner and Head of International, Salesforce Ventures, adding, “Darwinbox is delivering innovation for Asia’s leading enterprises and has emerged as a top platform of choice. We are excited to be a part of Darwinbox’s journey and support them in their mission.”

Darwinbox’s HR technology powers more than 500 global enterprises with over one million employees spread across 60 countries.

"As Asian conglomerates, governments, high growth businesses, and MNCs operating in Asia witness digital transformation, Darwinbox has become their preferred Human Capital Management solution," said Dev Khare, Partner, Lightspeed India.

Some of their customers include Adani, Mahindra, Kotak, TVS, Arvind, NSE, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Bharti AXA, DrReddy’s, Nivea, Puma, T-Systems, Swiggy, Bigbasket, Delhivery, and more.

“Globally, an increasing number of enterprises are abandoning legacy offerings in favour of our modern, agile HCM platform that helps them stay ahead of change,” says Jayant Paleti, Co-founder, Darwinbox. “We will closely work with Salesforce to maximise value to our customers, continue building out our product stack, and accelerate global expansion”. 

During the pandemic-led lockdown, the startup says over 180 implementations were done remotely.

"India is home to one of the world's youngest population, and by 2050, it is expected to account for over 18 percent of the global working-age population. This makes technology platforms like Darwinbox, that focuses on workforces, incredibly important," says Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson and CEO, Salesforce India.