Meet HR Tech Startups Modernising India’s Back Offices

Meet HR Tech Startups Modernising India’s Back Offices

SUMMARY

About 20% of total job postings in the country today (in 2024) comprise hybrid and remote roles, which is an increase from 0.9% in 2020

When the pandemic shook the world in 2020, companies worldwide were suddenly forced to call a truce with the new normal of working remotely

Even though the pandemic has waned, HR tech platforms seem to have struck well with enterprises, so much so that they have become a must-have for organisations of all sizes

HR tech saw its big moment when the pandemic shook the world in 2020. Companies worldwide were suddenly forced to contend with the new normal of remote working, and HR tech stepped in to solve the gaps.

Managing human resources became a big pain point for companies as everything from hiring to workforce management went online. To rescue organisations from the state of confusion and chaos, HR tech platforms arrived in droves in India and around the world.

While several HR tech startups already had a presence in India and overseas before the pandemic, it proved to be an inflexion point, and the opportunity has since then grown beyond just payroll management. 

As per a report by Xpheno, about 20% of total job postings in the country in 2024 comprised hybrid and remote roles, up from 0.9% in 2020. The IT and technology sector is leading in adopting the hybrid and remote working mode of working. This increase in the number of remote and hybrid roles has contributed to the spurt in the adoption of HR tech tools.  

Indian HR tech startups seem to have struck a chord with enterprises, so much so that they have become a must-have for organisations of all sizes.

The cherry on the cake appears to be the rise of GenAI, which has further streamlined and almost reshaped how Indian companies handle their HR operations with tailored offerings. 

Besides, these tech-based solutions are playing a crucial role in employee engagement and scaling their productivity. Additionally, HR tech tools are helping businesses across sectors proactively predict trends and gather insights to enhance employee experience. 

As of now, investors are cognisant of the rise in the demand for efficient HR solutions. A testament to this growth is the fact that Indian HR tech startups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from some of the biggest investors in the country in the past few years. 

While it remains to be seen how this ecosystem will transform India Inc, we have collated a list of the Indian HR tech platforms shaping today’s workforce for tomorrow.

Editor’s Note: This is neither an exhaustive list nor a ranking of any kind. We have listed the Indian HR tech startups alphabetically.

Belong.co

Founded in 2014 by Vijay Sharma, Rishabh Kaul, and Sudheendra Chilappagari, Belong.co aims to transform how companies find and engage top talent. 

Led by Exotel’s former CEO Vijay Sharma, the machine learning-capable platform offers data-driven outbound hiring solutions. The platform scans profiles of individuals across over 90 professional networks, communities and forums, assessing education, career trajectory, skills and online activity to find the right fit for organisations.

Belong also helps clients understand what worked for them in earlier cases, analysing their employee data to highlight hiring patterns that lead to successful matches. 

The platform has grown significantly since its Series A funding in 2015, doubling its mid-market and enterprise customers. Belong now serves major tech companies including Cisco, Amazon, UHG, Tesco, Reliance Jio, and ThoughtWorks. 

The HR Tech startup has raised $15 Mn to date and is backed by the likes of Peak XV, Z47, Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and Blume Ventures, among others.

Betterplace

Founded in 2015 by Pravin Agarwala, Uday Singh, and Saurabh Tandon, Betterplace streamlines HR functions via a unified, data-driven platform. 

From talent acquisition and onboarding to background verification, attendance tracking, and payroll processing, BetterPlace consolidates key HR tasks into a single interface, offering actionable insights for workforce management.

Serving over 1,500 businesses across 500 locations in APAC, India, and GCC, the startup competes with the likes of Zoho, Greythr, ZingHR, and Freshworks in the HRMS segment and competes with Apna, Gigforce, and Spayee when it comes to offering blue-collared labour workforce solutions. 

Backed by investors, including Jungle Ventures, British International Investment, and newer additions like Macquarie Capital and SITE Capital Partners, Betterplace has raised a total of $90 Mn in funding to date.

In 2023, the Bengaluru-headquartered HR tech startup expanded into the UAE and Southeast Asia, acquired HR tech firms Troopers and MyRobin, and partnered with Microsoft to enhance its tech capabilities.

Cutshort

Founded in 2015 by Nikunj Verma and Anubhav Gupta, Cutshort is a Pune-based HRTech platform that simplifies tech hiring for companies and job seekers alike. 

With a focus on fast and reliable talent matching, Cutshort’s platform allows employers to find suitable candidates within minutes. The platform includes a trust score feature to verify candidate reliability and integrates with partner networks to expand the talent pool.

Using algorithmic matching and AI-based recommendations, Cutshort connects companies with the best-fit tech talent.

Backed by investor Venkata Ramana Chennamadhavuni, Cutshort has helped over 25,000 recruiters fill more than 15,000 roles. The company counts the likes of Porter, MyGlamm, Caratlane, and GoKwik as its customers.

The company has raised close to $268K to date. 

DarwinBox

Darwinbox is a Hyderabad-based cloud HR technology platform that provides comprehensive solutions for recruitment, onboarding, payroll, travel, and people analytics. 

Incorporated in 2015 by Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti, and Rohit Chennamaneni, it became a unicorn in 2022.

Darwinbox’s cloud-based HRMS platform supports essential HR functions, including core HR, payroll, recruitment, performance management, and employee engagement. Recent enhancements to the platform include Vibe, an internal social network, a universal search bar for faster information retrieval, and an objectives and key results (OKR) framework for streamlined goal setting and performance tracking.

With $140 Mn in funding from investors like Technology Crossover Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Peak XV Partners, the HR tech startup now serves over 700 companies across seven countries. It counts Swiggy, Big Basket, Nivia, and Starbucks as its key clients.

GetWork

Founded in 2019 by Rahul Veerwal and Sumit Gupta, GetWork is a Gurugram-based platform that connects fresh graduates with employers through AI-powered matching technology. The platform simplifies placement processes for colleges and universities, providing tools for job tracking, interview scheduling, and talent analytics.

GetWork’s system analyses over 200 data points per student to deliver tailored job recommendations and skill development insights. With $1.1 Mn in funding from backers like Samarthya Investment Advisors, Artha Venture Fund, and prominent angel investors, GetWork has grown rapidly. The platform serves more than 900 employers and 1,500+ colleges, facilitating job placements for over 30,000 fresh graduates.

greytHR

Founded in 1994 by Grish Rowjee and Sayeed Anjum, GreyTip Software Private Limited, the parent company of greytHR, is a comprehensive HRMS platform that specialises in automating employee payroll services. The platform claims to serve over 27,000 customers and 2.5 Lakh users across more than 25 countries.

greytHR provides a range of employee-centric services, including leave management automation, performance management, employee self-service, and engagement tools. Its clients include well-known names like WeWork, HealthifyMe, Chai Point, and Berger Paints.

In July 2024, the company announced an undisclosed Series F funding round from Apax Digital Funds, bringing its total funding to approximately $47 Mn to date.

HackerEarth

Founded in 2012 by Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash, HackerEarth is a platform designed to enhance technical recruitment by combining coding assessments, video interviews, and remote hiring tools to evaluate developers effectively. 

The platform supports automated technical assessments in 38 programming languages, offers customisable tests, and provides detailed analytics for in-depth candidate evaluation.

HackerEarth also fosters a thriving community of over 4 Mn developers, who engage in hackathons, programming challenges, and coding competitions. 

With $11.5 Mn in funding from investors like Jo Hirao, Prime Venture Partners, and BEENEXT, HackerEarth employs between 200 and 550 people worldwide. Its ISO-certified platform serves as both a technical assessment solution for companies and a valuable practice space for developers looking to sharpen their skills.

Instahyre

Instahyre is a New Delhi-based AI-driven recruitment platform that was founded in 2017 by Aditya Rajgarhia and Sarbojit Mallick. The platform connects employers with candidates through its InstaMatch technology. 

With $540K in funding from prominent investors like Haresh Chawla, Kunal Shah, and Ashish Hemrajani, Instahyre leverages AI to streamline the hiring process.

The platform’s InstaMatch technology analyses millions of data points to assess candidate behaviour, intent, and fit for specific roles, building comprehensive profiles based on work history, skills, and career growth. 

Serving over 10,000 businesses, including Amazon, Google, and PayPal, Instahyre maintains a vast database of 30 Mn job seekers. The platform claims to cut hiring time by 60-70% and reduce costs by up to 90% compared to traditional recruitment methods.

HerKey

HerKey (formerly JobsForHer) is a Bengaluru-based career engagement platform dedicated to bridging the gender gap in India’s workforce. With $4 Mn in funding from Kalaari Capital, 360 ONE Asset, and angel investors Zia Mody and Ranjan Pai, HerKey supports women in starting, restarting, and advancing their careers through job matching, skill development, and mentorship.

Founded in 2015 by Neha Bagaria, this HR tech startup partners with over 10,000 companies to recruit, retain, and promote female talent, offering tailored job recommendations, upskilling courses, mentorship programs, and networking features. 

Serving a community of over 3.5 Mn women across India, HerKey aims to scale its impact to 30 Mn women. Committed to its mission, the company boasts a workforce that is 85% women and is expanding to international markets, including the US, the UK, Germany, and Southeast Asia.

Keka

Hyderabad-headquartered Keka develops HR software that handles core organisational functions from hiring to retirement. Their system automates payroll calculations, tax deductions, leave requests, attendance tracking, and performance reviews while maintaining centralised employee records.

Founded by Vijay Yalamanchilli in 2015, the platform processes payroll for 1.5 Mn employees monthly and serves businesses with 20-5,000 staff. Companies use Keka to manage recruitment, track project hours, run performance assessments, generate compliance reports, and access HR analytics through web and mobile interfaces.

Backed by WestBridge Capital, the company has raised $57 Mn to date. 

Naukri

Founded by Sanjeev Bikhchandani and headquartered in Delhi NCR, Naukri is an online recruitment platform, connecting job seekers with employers across a vast network. Info Edge, the platform parent, commands 70% of India’s job portal market.

Naukri’s platform hosts over 65 Mn CVs and serves 76,000 corporate clients, using AI-powered matching, automated screening, and employer branding tools to streamline hiring. With more than 5 Lakh active job listings, Naukri reaches 2 Mn daily users, 80% of whom access the platform via mobile. New offerings like Resdex Enterprise, Talent Pulse, and NVite Plus add AI-based talent sourcing, hiring insights, and WhatsApp outreach to their toolkit.

In Q2 FY25, Info Edge reported INR 676.70 in operating revenue (up 3.5% YoY), with recruitment solutions contributing INR 515.09 Cr. Naukri also saw a 31% rise in AI/ML job postings and expanded its reach to 56 offices across 42 Indian cities, along with a growing presence in Dubai, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain.

Smartstaff

People are an essential part of any business. Often when new projects are announced or a manufacturing company decides to establish new factories, they need workers in huge numbers to kickstart their operations.

To streamline the process of talent acquisition in manufacturing setups, Smartstaff is a talent marketplace for companies, which provides them with blue-collared staff. 

Besides, it also provides a work management platform where companies can manage their people working in the factories automating tasks such as attendance, performance management and managing shifts. 

Founded in 2021 by Arpit Dave, Viral Chhajer, Gnanesh Chilukuri and Aravind Reddy, the staffing platform counts the likes of Raymonds, Hyperpure by Zomato, Raneka Industries and others as its clients. 

On the business-to-consumer side (B2C), it also caters to the masses creating a job platform for people who can register themselves on its platform. Backed by the likes of Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, Arkam Ventures and Alteria Capital, the startup has raised $10.5 Mn in funding to date.

sumHR

Founded by Jay Thaker in 2013, sumHR develops cloud-based HR software for small and medium businesses to handle employee data, payroll, and attendance. Their platform centralises HR functions from recruitment through performance reviews.

The system processes payroll calculations, tax deductions, leave requests, and expense claims while providing analytics for HR metrics. 

In February last year, Bengaluru-based Neobank startup Jupiter acquired sumHR  for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition aimed to give a boost to Jupiter’s bouquet of banking solutions. 

Angel Network Middle East (ANME), which was one of the major seed investors in sumHR, exited the company post its acquisition by Jupiter. 

Zimyo

Large enterprises often have the resources to invest in HR tech solutions, with major players like SAP SuccessFactors and Oracle’s HRMS cloud services charging premium fees for their offerings. However, small businesses, including early-stage startups and SMEs, lack the budget for high-cost solutions.

To address this gap, Kumar Mayank and Ajay Kadyan founded Zimyo in 2018, a SaaS-based HR management platform tailored for SMEs. The platform streamlines HR processes such as payroll management and performance management, among others.

Based in Delhi NCR, Zimyo claims to serve over 2,500 clients and 7.5 Lakh users. Backed by prominent investors like BEENEXT, AngelList, and angel investors, including Sweta Rau and CRED’s Kunal Shah, the startup has raised $4.5 Mn in funding to date.

 ZingHR

HR tech startup ZingHR was founded in 2014 by Prasad Rajappan, Ravi S Bajaj, Venkat Balan and Vivek Tikoo. The startup creates enterprise HR software that manages end-to-end workforce operations. Their platform combines AI and machine learning to handle payroll, attendance, recruitment, and employee engagement through a mobile-first interface available in multiple languages.

The company has raised $14 Mn in two rounds to date, with Tata Capital being one of its major investors, holding a 33% stake in the company. 

Tata Capital invested $10 Mn in ZingHR in 2022. Accel Partners, Mumbai Angels, Triton and Zeta are some of the other investors backing the company.  

The company claims to serve over 1,100 customers across eight countries and has 2 Mn active users. 

Last updated | January 28, 2025