The year 2021 represented one of the most entropic and pivotal years in defining the future of work. As we witnessed “remote” and “hybrid” becoming household terms, the “Great Resignation” impacted most (if not all) organizations, companies were forced to rethink their talent strategy. The result is a 3-5 year forward shift in digital-first thinking for all things talent. Darwinbox is at the heart and center of this movement.
Asia’s fastest-growing HR tech platform, Darwinbox is now a startup unicorn following a successful $72M funding round. Led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) along with participation from existing investors – Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia, Lightspeed, SCB 10X, JG Digital Equity Ventures (JGDEV), Endiya Partners, and 3One4Capital, the round takes the total investment in the company to over US$110 million. Since the last fundraise from Salesforce Ventures a year ago, the company has grown 300% in the Philippines. It is expecting higher growth this year owing to enhanced demand for digital tools in the workplace post-pandemic.
Darwinbox’s cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) platform caters to HR needs across the entire employee lifecycle. Their new-age product is powering digital HR for more than 1.5 million employees from 650+ enterprises across the globe to include leading Filipino enterprises like JG Summit Holdings, Robinsons Bank, Straive (erstwhile SPi Global), Shakey’s Pizza, NutriAsia, and Delbros Group.
Founded in late 2015, the company currently stands as the youngest and the only Asian-origin player on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for HCM serving 1000+ employee enterprises. It is also rated the highest (4.8) globally on Gartner’s customer reviews platform, Peer Insights; racing ahead of global giants like SAP, Oracle, and Workday.
“We get most excited investing behind visionary founders that are fundamentally transforming large industries with a highly resonant product. I am delighted to back an outstanding team that is doing exactly that in a highly impactful, fast-evolving HR technology space and partner with them on their journey to global HCM leadership,” said Gopi Vaddi, General Partner, TCV — known for its investments in disruptive tech brands like Netflix, Facebook, Spotify, Airbnb, GoDaddy, and Zillow.
The new funding will supercharge Darwinbox’s global expansion plan by allowing the company to accelerate its platform innovation agenda, strengthen its product, engineering, and customer success teams along with scaling its go-to-market presence in multiple geographies. The company is set to triple its team within a year aiming to add more than 100+ team members in SEA across its Manila, Singapore, and Jakarta offices.
“This investment energizes our mission to continue building technology that enables organizations to unlock the highest potential of their people. We have done this by building a product that puts employees squarely at the center and crafting meaningful experiences for them. This has especially found resonance in this rapidly evolving world of work over the last two years with companies having to rethink how they attract, manage and retain their talent,” according to Jayant Paleti, Co-founder of Darwinbox.
“We are fortunate to have a strategic and dedicated partner in Darwinbox. As a customer-centric organization, we are happy to be working with a partner who shares the same ideals as ours. Darwinbox genuinely values our feedback and is committed to continuously improve their platform based on our needs. This collaborative partnership helps us achieve our HR goals faster and smarter, ensuring that our employees always have a rewarding and seamless experience,” said Lance Y. Gokongwei, President and CEO of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. The conglomerate uses Darwinbox’s platform to digitalize HR for several of the group companies including JG Summit, Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc., and Summit Media.
Darwinbox shared during a media briefing that they are expanding on the product investments by building for extraordinary agility and delivering a stellar employee experience while defining success for Darwinbox’s customers. Founders of the startup company also promised to continue investing in new and innovative technologies to deliver a frictionless experience for the work-from-anywhere workforce.