HR tech platform Darwinbox has more than tripled its valuation to become a unicorn in a new $72 million funding round as the Indian startup leads what an investor calls the "SaaSification of Asia" trend.
The venture capitalist known for backing firms such as Netflix, Meta, and Spotify led the $72 million Series D funding for the startup.
Existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital India, and 3One4 Capital, also participated in the round, which pushes Darwinbox's all-time raise to over $110 million and values it at over $1 billion.
Darwinbox is a human resource management platform. The startup manages the entire hiring to retire cycle for employees. Hundreds of firms, including Starbucks, Domino's, recently turned decacorn, use the startup's platform to handle onboarding of new hires and gain visibility on their performance, attrition rates and establishing an ongoing feedback loop.
Darwinbox had a strong year of growth. According to Chaitanya Peddi in an interview, the pandemic accelerated Darwinbox's growth as firms across the globe scrambled to find tools to coordinate with their employees.
The startup's revenue doubled last year and grew three times in the Southeast Asia region, which accounts for 20% of its overall revenue.
Darwinbox was founded in late 2015. The image is called Darwinbox.
The startup has helped it become the only Asian startup to be featured on a research firm.
The broad offering might explain why a third of Darwinbox's customers are people who have used more established platforms.
Gopi Vaddi, general partner at TCV, said in a statement that they get most excited investing behind visionary founders that are fundamentally transforming large industries.
I am delighted to back an outstanding team that is doing exactly that in a fast-evolving HR technology space and partner with them on their journey to global leadership.
The partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners said that Darwinbox is part of a group of startup that is building from Asia for the world. I believe in the SaaSification of Asia. The market for Asia-facing software-as-a-service companies has changed from what I saw five years ago.
You may ask why the category exists at all. Vendors from the US or Europe can't dominate here. The Western vendors only skimmed the top of the market. In India and Asia, companies that were non-users of packaged applications are starting to move straight from paper-based and manual processes to software-as-a-service.
Darwinbox plans to use the funds to expand and fuel its global expansion plans. Adding ancillary services and solutions to its product offerings is one way it is trying to broaden its offerings.
Peddi said that the startup is looking to add some product offerings by merging with or acquiring other companies.
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