Darwinbox raises $140 Mn co-led by Partners Group and KKR

HR tech platform Darwinbox has raised $140 million in a funding round led by Partners Group and KKR. The round also saw participation from Gravity Holdings.

The proceeds will be used for Darwinbox’s research and development (R&D) efforts and to ramp up its global expansion.

Darwinbox, founded by Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni, and Chaitanya Peddi, is a cloud-based HR platform that helps with recruitment, payroll, employee engagement, talent management, and people analytics.

Last year, the company partnered with Microsoft to integrate its HCM platform with Microsoft's tools, aiming to improve the employee experience.

Based in Hyderabad, Darwinbox has expanded to Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Its main revenue comes from Southeast Asia and India, and it has also opened offices in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the US.

The company recently launched an AI-powered product suite spanning multiple HR functions and is actively developing AI-driven agents to assist HR professionals in talent acquisition, digital transformation, and other areas.

Darwinbox has raised over $255 million to date including $72 million in its Series D round in January 2022 when it entered the unicorn club.

In August 2024, Darwinbox announced the elevation of Vineet Singh, its chief technology officer (CTO), to the position of co-founder. 

According to data intelligence platform TheKredible, Darwinbox reported Rs 392.95 crore in revenue from operations, and Rs 584.15 crore in expenses, resulting in a net loss of Rs 191.82 crore in FY24.