Darwinbox HR Technology Platform Raises $72M Funded Led by Technology Crossover Ventures

Darwinbox, Asia's fastest growing HR (Human Resources) technology platform, grew rapidly through US$72 million in funding and received a unicorn-level valuation. Led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) with several permanent investors – namely Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia, Lightspeed, SCB 10X, JGDEV, Endiya Partners, and 3One4Capital; this funding made Darwinbox worth over US$1 billion. Since the last fundraising from Salesforce Ventures 12 months ago, Darwinbox has grown by 300% in Indonesia. The company expects to grow even more this year due to the increasing number of requests for post-pandemic workplace digital solutions.

Founded in late 2015, Darwinbox's cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) platform serves HR needs across the entire employee management lifecycle. Their cutting-edge products support digital HR for more than 1,5 million employees from 650+ companies worldwide, including a group of leading companies and fast growing companies in Indonesia such as Tokopedia, Kopi Kenangan, Mitra Adiperkasa, Indorama, Chandra Asri (Barito Pacific Group ), Sari Roti (Salim Group), Protelindo (Djarum Group), Pyridam Farma, Gunung Raja Paksi (GRP), Astra Life, Bina Karya Prima, and STP Tower. They also serve leading global brands such as Nivea, Starbucks, Dominos, T-Systems, AXA, Tokio, Cigna, and others.

Today, Darwinbox is the youngest and only Asian company in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for HCM serving 1000+ employee companies. Darwinbox also has the highest rating (4.8) globally on Peer Insights, Gartner's customer review platform; rivaling global giants like SAP, Oracle and Workday – an achievement they achieved with innovative technology, deep understanding of market context, intuitive user experience and extraordinary customer appeal.

“We are excited to invest in visionary founders who can fundamentally transform large industries with great products,” said Gopi Vaddi, General Partner at TCV. “I am excited to be supporting the incredible team that made this transformation in the high-impact and fast-growing area of ​​HR technology and partnering them on their journey to global HCM leadership.” TCV is known for their investments in disruptive technology brands such as Netflix, Facebook, Spotify, Airbnb, GoDaddy, and Zillow.

“This investment underscores our mission to continue building technology that enables organizations to bring out the best in their people. We do this by building employee-focused products and creating meaningful experiences for them. Over the past two years, our products have become widely recognized in the world of work; which is also constantly changing as companies have to rethink how they can attract, retain and manage their employees,” said Jayant Paleti, Co-Founder of Darwinbox.

This new round of funding supports Darwinbox's global expansion plans and accelerates platform innovation, strengthens internally and strengthens presence across multiple market sectors. Darwinbox aims to invest aggressively and grow their Jakarta office to have over 100 team members over the next six months.

“Investing in HR management technology is a vital strategy for company success. Darwinbox's ability to build fast, innovative and easy solutions and understand the needs of its users has earned them the trust of leading companies,” added Jessica Neal, former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix and Venture Partner at TCV.

2021 is one of the most challenging and important years in shaping the future of how employees work. The concepts of “remote working” and “hybrid working” have been frequently applied around the world, and the many cases of termination of employment have affected many companies and forced them to rethink their HR management strategy. The result is a shift of three to five years earlier in adopting digital employee management. Darwinbox is on the move and at the center of that change.

Regarding their product investment strategy, Chaitanya Peddi, Product Head and co-founder of Darwinbox explained – “Building a product that is fast and can provide a great employee experience is the main factor that determines success for Darwinbox users. We will continue to invest in new and innovative technologies to provide seamless experiences for employees working from anywhere.”