Darwinbox, a global HR tech unicorn, has bolstered its presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with the opening of a new office at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. Darwinbox is aiming for a 400 percent growth in MENA while serving its growing customer base across the region.
The announcement marks a major milestone for Darwinbox as it aggressively ramps up its MENA expansion plans. The company is building a strong team and looking to hire for key roles in sales, engineering, and customer excellence to cater to a growing number of enterprises in the region. Led by an experienced senior leadership team, the new office will serve as a strategic hub for Darwinbox’s regional customer base, while also bringing the full breadth of the company’s technology capabilities to the Middle East market. Furthermore, being situated in DIFC will allow Darwinbox to be at the heart of the city’s vibrant business ecosystem, enabling greater connection with enterprises, investors, and partners.
Founded in 2015, the mobile-first HR tech platform is powering digital HR for more than two million employees from over 700 enterprises globally. In the MENA region, Darwinbox is already working with Alef Education, Retailo, Mobily infotech, Seepco, Eyewa, Shalina Healthcare and Foodics, along with select operations of Al Rajhi Bank, and the Lulu Group.
Sharing his excitement about the office opening, Chaitanya Peddi, Co-Founder of Darwinbox, said: “The opening of our new office in Dubai will supercharge our team’s ambitious growth plans, allowing us to accelerate our platform-innovation agenda across MENA. Darwinbox is revolutionising HR and employee experiences for the UAE and wider MENA region. The new office reiterates our commitment to helping enterprises realise superior business outcomes with the help of disruptive AI-powered technology.”
Welcoming Darwinbox to DIFC, Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, said: “DIFC is delighted that the HR tech unicorn, Darwinbox is establishing its regional base in the Centre as it looks to capture opportunities here and across fast-growing MENA markets. We are looking forward to helping Darwinbox build the workplace of the future and integrate them into the region’s largest community of financial services-related businesses.”
To fuel its growth, Darwinbox has pledged significant investments to prioritise product development, tailored to the local labour law, compliance needs and best practices in MENA. Additionally, the company is set to launch its Arabic mobile application for the region’s power users. The company is looking to serve the dispersed workforce in the region with a sector focus on e-commerce, logistics, real-estate infrastructure, insurance and retail. Built with advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities, Darwinbox has pioneered innovations, such as Voicebot for HR, facial recognition-based touchless attendance and several other features that are not only critical to managing the post-pandemic workplace but are also disrupting the HR tech space.
“Countries like the UAE and KSA are global leaders in digital transformation. Our new-age HR tech platform understands the pulse of the region – be it culture, context or challenges. It will prove to be a technological catalyst helping regional enterprises manage their talent better and also empower them to fulfill their digital ambitions,” Peddi adds.
In January 2022, Darwinbox leapfrogged to a unicorn valuation following its Series D funding. It was led by the Silicon Valley-based Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) along with its existing investors – Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Ventures.
