HRTech Interview with Jayant Paleti, Co-founder at Darwinbox

Jayant Paleti talks about the future of HR and HRtech and the story behind Darwinbox in this catch-up with HRTech Series:

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Hi Jayant, tell us about your role at Darwinbox and journey till now in the HRtech space?

I’m Jayant Paleti, one of the Co-founders at Darwinbox. Together with them, I’ve spent the past decade shaping Darwinbox as an HCM platform that helps enterprises adapt to rapid change while preserving the heart of their culture.

Our “why” came from seeing how legacy HR systems—originally meant to empower HR—were doing the exact opposite, limiting agility with high costs, slow updates, and outdated user experiences. Rather than painting over rust, we scrapped the old blueprint and built the platform from scratch. We spent over 2 years perfecting the foundation so the platform could deliver on usability, speed of execution, connectivity, and real-time insights for everyone in the organization. Since then, we’ve added over 14 modules encompassing time and absence, payroll, talent management, employee journeys, voice of employee, and so on.

Today, Darwinbox supports 1,000+ enterprises and 3 million employees across 130+ countries, including marquee names like Starbucks, Subway, Adidas, Zara, WeWork, and more. In just 24 months of entering the U.S. market, we’ve been able to sustain 3× YOY revenue growth, fuelled by a truly global mindset and a design philosophy that puts people first.

At the end of the day, our mission is simple: give HR and employees the tools they need to thrive, no matter where they work or how fast the world changes around them.

We’d love to hear about some of Darwinbox’s latest innovations and your recent funding and near-term roadmap?

I am thrilled to announce that we’ve just welcomed Partners Group and KKR – global private equity powerhouses – as our newest investors, with a US$ 140 Mn strategic investment. They join our incredible lineup of existing backers, including Microsoft, TCV, Salesforce Ventures, Peak XV Partners, Lightspeed, and more. For us, it’s far more than just funding; it’s a major endorsement of our vision to redefine HR tech for global enterprises. We’re moving full steam ahead, deepening our R&D and expanding aggressively into the U.S. to bring our platform to more organizations.

We’ve been pushing the envelope on two fronts: building an AI-driven, fully configurable HCM platform that employees enjoy using, and expanding our reach to support organizations with truly global and diverse workforces.

Here are few examples –

• AI-First Enhancements: We’re embedding AI into day-to-day HR workflows—like performance reviews, sentiment checks, and intelligent automation—to provide proactive insights that help teams address issues before they escalate. Our approach is to keep AI both accessible and value-driven, so it meaningfully improves employee and HR experiences rather than adding complexity.
• Consumer-Grade Experience Meets Enterprise Scale: Darwinbox’s user interface is as intuitive as the apps employees use in their personal lives. At the same time, we’re ensuring enterprise-strength compliance, security, and flexible configurations for complex deployments.
• Unified “People OS” Approach: Rather than cobbling together separate modules, we’re evolving a unified system that centralizes everything from learning & performance to onboarding and attendance management. This reduces complexity for HR and allows real-time insights across the entire employee lifecycle.

Darwinbox in the last year, released its global payroll solution, a new design system focussed on simplifying & personalise day-day employee experiences, and multiple AI features across the product suite. We’re actively working on AI agents that can help employees get highly contextual service and help augment HR capabilities.

What trends around human capital management and HCM platforms are currently impacting the market?

A few trends that we’re seeing amidst our customers are –

Rigorous emphasis on ROI and Practical AI Deployment

CHROs and IT leaders now demand clear alignment between AI projects and measurable outcomes. Rather than chasing trends, they’re focusing on high-impact use cases like recruitment optimization and performance management—backed by responsible data governance and transparent usage policies. This balanced approach helps organizations harness AI’s benefits without succumbing to “hype without results.”
At Darwinbox, for instance, we focus on high-value, high-feasibility use cases—rolled out through beta programs and flexible pricing models that lower the risk and cost of experimentation.

Margin Compression and Re-evaluation of Cloud Choices

Many enterprises—especially those with 5,000+ employees—are finding that their cloud and SaaS choices from three to five years ago no longer deliver the value or cost efficiency they once promised. Rising maintenance and renewal fees, plus limited feature uptake, are pushing organizations to revisit their HR tech stacks with a renewed emphasis on total cost of ownership (TCO).

Instead of juggling fragmented solutions, there’s a growing demand for unified workforce platforms that reduce complexity and save costs in the long run. We’ve seen examples where organizations, after consolidating disparate HR modules into a single, integrated HCM system, reported significant productivity gains in HR service delivery—particularly across distributed or diverse employee groups.

Elevated Employee Experience, Engagement, and DEI

Workforces today are increasingly diverse, geographically dispersed, and driven by personal values—making employee experience (EX) a strategic imperative rather than a buzzword. Modern HCM platforms are responding with features like pulse surveys, analytics for spotting DEI gaps, and consumer-grade UX that simplify routine HR tasks.

These tools don’t just improve convenience; they foster an equitable culture where employees feel supported and heard. Whether it’s AI-driven “nudges” to encourage regular feedback or tailored learning paths that help employees grow, the emphasis is on inclusion and well-being. By aligning user-friendly technology with a holistic approach to engagement, organizations can build truly people-centric environments that boost morale, retention, and overall productivity.

Read More: HRTech Interview with Brad Kaluzna, Vice President and General Manager, HCM Solutions – Enterprise at Paychex

For HR teams opening up to all in one AI powered HRTech, what initial deployment and training practices should be kept in mind?

I can go on about this for days, but here’s a simple set of ideas to keep in mind –

1. Know your north-star: Develop some organizational clarity on what you’d to achieve with AI deployments. Start by pinpointing which HR processes—like recruiting, onboarding, or performance management—will benefit most from AI. Setting measurable KPIs around efficiency gains, employee satisfaction, and process improvements.
2. Start Small, Scale Gradually
   Rather than implementing every feature at once, begin with high-impact areas—like recruitment or performance management—to showcase quick wins and build confidence among end-users.
3. Foster an Internal Champion Network
   Identify or train “power users”—managers and HR professionals who deeply understand the system—and encourage them to support peers. These champions can help troubleshoot issues and advocate for adoption within their teams.
4. Prioritize Quality and Accessibility of Data
   AI is only as effective as the data feeding it. Ensure your historical HR records are clean, standardized, and secure before rolling out AI-powered functionalities.
5. Champion User-Friendly Training
   Move beyond traditional manuals. Offer scenario-based, interactive sessions so employees and managers understand how to use AI tools and why they’re beneficial. Micro-learning modules or quick video tutorials can be especially effective.
6. Emphasize Governance and Transparency
   Establish clear guidelines around data privacy, bias, and user access. Engage stakeholders early—HR, legal, and IT—to form a responsible AI framework that puts ethical considerations front and center.

As HRtech evolves to meet changing market needs, what will dominate the market in the near future?

First, let’s establish a simple golden rule for any modern HR platform:

1. Does it help the organization adapt to change and evolve faster?
2. Do employees genuinely enjoy using it?

This is, quite simply, what consumes all of us at Darwinbox every day.

Agility to Meet Evolving Business Demands:

Modern enterprises operate in a fluid environment where global expansion demands multi-currency payroll and cultural localization, diverse workforces blend full-time, gig, and frontline teams, and compliance obligations—from data compliance to labor law shifts—are constantly evolving.

Organizations need HR platforms that can adapt on the fly—scale up or down, seamlessly integrate with new tools, and extend seamlessly beyond “by-the-book” HR functionalities as requirements shift. A robust HCM platform enables these quick pivots without disrupting core operations, ensuring the solution remains relevant whether the market is stable or highly volatile.

Exceptional Employee Experience:

In a world of globally dispersed, diverse teams, employee experience has become a key differentiator—and modern HCM platforms must rise to the occasion with consumer-grade interfaces, mobile-first capabilities, and dashboards that surface relevant info at a glance. By integrating AI-driven nudges and personalized insights, these solutions streamline routine tasks and offer proactive coaching, while inclusive features like language localization and analytics for spotting DEI gaps reinforce an organization’s commitment to growth and equity. When employees and managers genuinely enjoy using the platform, engagement skyrockets, feeding back richer data that bolsters decision-making for leadership and HR—turning technology from an administrative burden into a catalyst for productivity and cultural health.

A few HRTech innovators (people / SaaS platforms) from around the world you’d like to talk about here?

We love being in the HR tech industry. Everyone’s innovating. So much has changed in such a short time and every player in the ecosystem is doing their best to up the ante. It is all in the service of building better, more resilient organizations.

We observe and learn from instances of innovation on three key fronts:

Our Customers

Hundreds of our customers are leading by example every day, running remarkable HR initiatives and driving change management in ways that inspire us. Their work demonstrates how real-world needs shape the most effective solutions.

Industry Analysts & Thought Leaders

Influential names like Gartner continue to publish incisive research, shining a light on emerging trends and best practices. Their guidance helps the entire ecosystem align, adapt, and stay informed.

HR Tech Vendors

We’re in the “land of opportunity” with AI, automation, and other technological leaps that challenge us to think bigger. Fellow vendors continually refine their offerings, creating fresh ways to address everything from employee experience to compliance—with a particular emphasis on scalability, user adoption, and real ROI.

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[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]