Team Startupcity

• Darwinbox raises $40M from Ontario Teachers’ Venture Growth, pushing total funding to $320M.
• Focus on North America with 3x year-on-year growth since 2022 entry; clients include Zara, Adidas, Starbucks.
• Backed by marquee investors like Microsoft, Salesforce, Peak XV, and KKR.

Hyderabad-based human capital management (HCM) and planning platform Darwinbox has raised $40 million from Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), the late-stage venture and growth investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. The funding, comprising a mix of primary and secondary transactions, takes the company’s total capital raised to $320 million.
 
Darwinbox Co-founder Jayant Paleti said the investment aligns with the company’s vision to disrupt the legacy HCM space. “HR tech, when done right, can unlock outsized value for every enterprise, yet the old guard of HCM vendors still falls short of that leap. Darwinbox exists to change that story building the next-gen HCM company, global by design, AI-first at the core, and relentlessly focused on customer outcomes”, he noted.
 
The fresh capital will be used to strengthen Darwinbox’s footprint in North America, a market it entered in 2022. Since its launch there, the company claims to have grown its regional business threefold year-on-year. Its North American client roster includes brands such as WeWork, Zara, Adidas, and Starbucks.
 
With this investment, TVG joins an impressive list of existing Darwinbox backers, including Microsoft, Salesforce, Peak XV Partners, Lightspeed, and TCV. “We look forward to bringing our global network and expertise to support the company’s future growth”, said Darius Vakil, Director of TVG in India.
 
The funding comes just months after Darwinbox’s $140 million raise in March 2025, led by Swiss private equity firm Partners Group and U.S.-based KKR. That round had been reported earlier by 'Mint' to be in the range of $120 million to $150 million.
 
Teachers’ Venture Growth is part of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, a global investor with a focus on real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources, alongside technology-led companies. In India, TVG’s portfolio includes B2B finance tech platform Perfios, SME-focused supply chain financing provider Mintifi, and B2C logistics player XpressBees.

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Founded in 2015 by Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti, Rohit Chennamaneni, and Vineet Singh, Darwinbox became the first unicorn startup from Telangana. Today, the platform serves over 1,000 enterprises with a combined workforce of four million employees across 130 countries.
 
The latest funding underscores growing investor confidence in Darwinbox’s ability to compete in the global HR tech space by combining artificial intelligence, scalable architecture, and a strong customer-first approach.