How did we live without it, say users of Darwinbox, which just raised $4 mn

Enterprise human resource software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform Darwinbox has raised $4 million in fresh funding led by Lightspeed India Partners, along with participation from existing investors Endiya Partners, Mohandas Pai’s 3one4 Capital, and Startupxseed Ventures.

Darwinbox’s end-to-end HR management software has found takers in over 50 companies, including firms such as Paytm and Delhivery, with a combined employee count of over 100,000. The company says all its deployments earn it money as it does not offer a freemium model.

"Areas that we think will be very important and are willing to make bets on are AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning), and introducing psychology into products. This will help us understand how customers are using the product, find ways to reduce the time they spend on it, and even predict the success of an employee within the company," said Rohit Chennamaneni, co-founder at Darwinbox.

Apart from investing in technology and its product, Darwinbox will invest to grow its market base. The company says it has set its sights on winning customers in banking and financial services, who are big employers, for instance. In the next nine months, it also plans to expand overseas, starting with Asia.

Founded by Jayant Paleti, Chennamaneni, and Chaitanya Peddi, Darwinbox has found its product market fit over the past one year since it raised its pre-Series A round. It is now aiming to onboard a 100 more customers in the next one year, targeting firms with an average headcount of at least 2,000 employees.

"At all sizes and in all industries, businesses succeed when their employees and managers are engaged for maximum productivity and potential. As a result, human capital management software is core to the success of every business," said Dev Khare, a partner at Lightspeed India Partners Advisors. "Darwinbox is leading the charge in taking human capital management beyond the HR department to all employees with a highly user-friendly and configurable user experience," Khare added. 

Another area where the company thinks it can win an edge over rivals is through sensitivity analysis of feedback given by employees. While a lot of research is being done globally on this, no one has been able to turn it into a product. Darwinbox wants to analyse things such as the language used to better understand its users and eventually pass on this feedback to employers.

Chennamaneni estimates that the market for HR software in India alone is over $1 billion, and while the requirements of customers need to be tweaked depending on the region, the core underlying system remains the same. With investments in new technologies, he believes Darwinbox will be able to pull ahead of the competition.

"Moving to Darwinbox has made us wonder how we survived before it happened. The product is comprehensive, built with great attention to detail, and is highly differentiated from most other HRMS products in the market," said Sriharsha Majety, CEO at Swiggy.