o9 Solutions, an enterprise AI software platform provider said that it intends to hire 500-600 people in India in 2022.
The company had recently raised $295 million in investment from several investors which included BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, Generation Investment Management, a pure-play sustainability investment manager and existing investor KKR.
Chakri Gottemukkala, Co-founder and CEO of o9 told BusinessLine that the company has been expanding rapidly in India in the last few years and has grown significantly even during the pandemic. India currently has a workforce of 1,000 people, up from 300-400 before the pandemic.
“We’re hiring significantly, and we continue to do that. I think we’ll probably get to 1500-1600 people this year in India.” he said.
He further said that since Indian market has unique challenges, planning and decision making is extremely important.
“Like a lot of companies, we have broader aspirations, as well. We continue to grow there, but our broader focus is using our India teams for not just serving the Indian market, but also serving the global market,” he added.
The company is headquartered in US and the India office is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
o9 clocked a 400 per cent increase in year-over-year growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR) from new customers during Q4 FY21. On a full year basis, the ARR grew more than three times in 2021 compared to 2020.
Latest funding round
On the recent round of funding, Gottemukkala said, “o9 has been growing in multiple markets and serving different industry verticals, and the funding can help in a few dimensions where it’s going to accelerate our growth into more industry verticals, but also globally, and will also continue to invest in research and development (R&D) to keep our edge.”
The new investors join KKR as investors in o9, valuing the company at $2.7 billion. This marks an increase from the $1 billion valuation in April 2020 at the time of the company’s first external investment led by KKR.
“It’s really a testament to the value that we’re creating in the market with the work we do,” Gottemukkala said on the growing valuation.
Demand and supply volatility and complexity has been growing and the pandemic has only accelerated the challenges companies face in meeting customer service and financial goals. o9 is poised perfectly to help companies deal with these megatrends with a differentiated, proven platform, he added.