Microsoft has made an equity investment in Darwinbox, the fastest-growing HR tech unicorn, to accelerate its mission of empowering organisations to unify their entire employee lifecycle. Darwinbox also announced a collaboration with Microsoft to empower organisations globally and across the MENA with the right tools to succeed in the evolving world of work. The collaboration will include deep integrations between Darwinbox and the Microsoft product ecosystem, and co-innovation on solutions to enhance employee experience.
The relationship will accelerate joint go-to-market motions in all markets that the leading Human Capital Management (HCM) player operates in. It will also fuel the global HR tech leader’s growth further while enabling organisations to unlock their workforce’s highest potential.
Darwinbox’s cloud-based HCM platform caters to HR needs across the entire employee lifecycle with new-age employee experiences and disruptive AI-powered technology. Powering 750+ enterprises and 2 million employees across the globe, the company has clocked a 2.6x revenue growth and increased its headcount by 240% in MENA since its Series D Unicorn funding round in January 2022. The company recently opened its new office at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
Commenting on the collaboration, Jayant Paleti, Co-founder, Darwinbox, said, “We’ve always had the highest regard for the Microsoft brand and ethos. As we align on the joint vision of helping our customers unlock new levels of employee experience and productivity, we’re excited to co-innovate on multiple lines of IP development and take these solutions to our customers globally”.
In the MENA region, Darwinbox works with leading enterprises like Noon.com, Masafi, Alef Education, Retailo, Mobily Infotech, Seepco, Eyewa, Shalina Healthcare, and Foodics along with select operations of Al Rajhi Bank, and the Lulu Group. The company also serves leading international brands such as Nivea, Starbucks, Dominos, Sephora, Swarovski, Adidas, Zara, Lacoste, Calvin Klein, AXA, Tokio, Cigna, and T-Systems.
Paco Salcedo, General Manager Enterprise, Microsoft Middle East and Africa, said, “Startups across the country are innovating and finding new ways of doing business. We are pleased to work closely with leaders like Darwinbox, who are completely reimagining the frontiers of employee experience with the power of technology. Our collaboration with Darwinbox builds on our focus of co-innovating with our customers to empower organisations across the UAE to do more with less”.
Deep integrations and multiple lines of co-innovation between Darwinbox and Microsoft will allow Darwinbox to deliver a radically unique and differentiated value proposition to its customers worldwide. As part of this collaboration, Darwinbox will adopt Microsoft Azure to enhance its Human Capital Management (HCM) SaaS platform.
Darwinbox’s mobile-first platform continues to enhance and personalize employee experience (EX) by bringing HR transactions and experiences into the flow of work with Dynamics 365 and Office365 platforms like Microsoft Teams, Viva, and Active Directory. Darwinbox has leveraged Microsoft’s PowerBI to further augment its AI-based predictive analytics engine, to build rich visual analytics dashboards, helping employees across customer organisations use data more effectively and power faster business decisions. Strategic product and engineering collaborations between the two companies will amplify innovation around workforce management, payroll management, benefits, talent management, and acquisition.
