Hyderabad-based HR tech player Keka raises Rs 461 cr from WestBridge Capital

Hyderabad: Keka, a Hyderabad-based HR tech player, has secured $57 million (about Rs 461 crore) from WestBridge Capital in Series A funding. The funding secured by Keka is among the largest by the software-as-a- service players. The company has drawn up plans to double its headcount from 500 to 1,000 in a year’s time and […]

Hyderabad: Keka, a Hyderabad-based HR tech player, has secured $57 million (about Rs 461 crore) from WestBridge Capital in Series A funding. The funding secured by Keka is among the largest by the software-as-a- service players. The company has drawn up plans to double its headcount from 500 to 1,000 in a year’s time and also venture into new markets including in Europe and other offshore markets.

Launched in 2016, Keka entered the HR tech space as a bootstrapped company and established itself as a leader in the SME segment. It has built a product that suited the practical requirements of the industry. By the end of 2021, Keka catered to more than 5500 companies. It touched the 100-customer milestone in 2017 and since then has seen an exponential growth.

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“While there have been plenty of tools to cover the customer experience, employee experience has taken a back seat. Businesses can no longer afford to do that. We want to help organisations focus better on
their employees,” said Vijay Yalamanchili, CEO of Keka.

“We have raised funding at the right time. We have been the fastest-growing HR tech leader in our space. We wanted to partner with someone with a long-term vision for the HR tech space. The funding is a validation of our ideas and approach,” he said, adding that the company wants to build a worldclass products here in India that will cater to the global market.

Research and development will be the primary area of focus as it expands its engineering, product, and customer success teams, he said.

The company now has about 500 people and plans are afoot to increase it to 1,000 in about a year. It will also venture into new markets including Europe and others. It caters to varied sized companies.

“Keka has emerged as a trusted and innovative HR Tech platform. We are aligned with the vision to build the best mid-market focused global HR Tech platform that will allow companies to modernise their HR processes,” said Rishit Desai, Principal at WestBridge Capital.

Keka streamlines and automates payroll, recruiting, leave and attendance, and performance management. It has customers across IT services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, professional service organizations, accounting, taxation, fintech, and other segments. It currently runs the payroll of over 15 lakh employees monthly.