Canada's OTPP in talks to invest in Darwinbox; valuation may hit $1 billion: Sources

Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) is in advanced stages of finalising a $50 million stake purchase in Hyderabad-based software-as-a-service firm Darwinbox, which will value the company at more than $1 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

OTPP is acquiring the stake in a mix of primary and secondary transactions, which will see Peak XV Partners partially sell its six-year-old holding in the company, which specialises in human resource (HR) services.

In March, Darwinbox had closed a $140-million round that saw private equity firms KKR and Partners Group join the cap table as Lightspeed and a few early investors partially offloaded their stakes. The March round was largely a secondary transaction, with a small primary component, and the blended valuation was around $950 million.


“There was spillover interest from certain investors after the $140-million round was finalised,” one of the persons briefed on the matter said, adding that out of the $50 million, about 60% is in secondaries.

Secondary transactions are usually finalised at 10-15% discount to a firm’s last primary valuation. The company was last valued at $1 billion in 2022, following a $72 million funding round led by Netflix-backer TCV.

For Peak XV Partners, which first invested in the firm in 2019, this spells a tenfold return on its initial cheque, said another person.

Darwinbox and OTPP did not respond to ET’s queries. Peak XV Partners refused to comment on the development.

Founded in 2015, Darwinbox helps organisations manage their HR needs, including hiring and onboarding, attendance and employee management. It serves more than 1,000 enterprises in various sectors across 130 countries. Its customer base includes companies such as Starbucks, Nivea, Cigna, WeWork and Crisil.

OTPP makes its growth equity investments through the Teachers’ Venture Growth vehicle and has backed Indian startups including Mintifi, Perfios and Xpressbees.

However, Darwinbox is not OTPP’s first investment in the HR-SaaS segment in the Asia-Pacific region. In July 2024, it co-led, along with KKR, a $140-million funding round in Japanese cloud-native human resources management platform SmartHR.

Darwinbox had reported a 58% year-on-year increase in total revenue to Rs 392 crore for 2023-24. In March this year, its cofounder Chaitanya Peddi had told ET that the company was targeting a 50% revenue growth in 2024-25.

Over the past few years, Darwinbox has been expanding overseas, including Asia-Pacific, West Asia, the UK and the US.

“We really started selling in the US in FY25, and the traction has been strong. I believe the contribution from global markets, particularly their growth, is now the largest driver of our revenue growth,” Peddi had said, adding that the company was set to surpass $100 million in annual recurring revenue by December 2025.