HR tech startup Keka secures $57 million from WestBridge Capital

Vijay Yalamanchili, CEO, Keka.

Human resources (HR) tech startup Keka has raised $57 million in a series A funding round led by WestBridge Capital, the startup said in a statement on November 9.

Keka plans to utilise the funding towards research and development (R&D) even as it plans to expand its engineering, product, and customer success team.

Founded by Vijay Yalamanchilli in 2015, Keka is an HR tech platform in India for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with 20-5,000 employees. Keka streamlines and automates payroll, recruiting, leave and attendance, and performance management.

“I believe we raised funding at the right time. We have been the fastest-growing HR tech leader in our space. Although we got several offers for funding in the past, we never felt the timing was right. Finding the right investment partner was also significant for us,” said Yalamanchilli in the statement.
Business today means serving both customers and employees. While there have been plenty of tools to cover the customer experience, employee experience has taken a back seat. Businesses can no longer afford to do that, he added.

As per the statement, the HR tech firm reached its 100-customer milestone in 2017, and it crossed the $750K ARR in 2017 and achieved a 7X sales growth in 2020. By 2021, it had crossed the 5500-customer landmark.

The platform in 2021 raised around $1.6 million from Recur Club.

“In a short period of time, Keka has emerged as India’s most trusted and innovative HR tech platform. Keka is disrupting the industry through its world-class product and highly reliable customer support,” said Rishit Desai, Principal at WestBridge Capital.

The firm serves businesses across sectors like IT services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, professional service organizations, accounting, taxation, fintech, and others. It currently runs a payroll of 1.5 million employees monthly.
Keka competes in parts with HR tech firms like HROne, WorkforceNow and OracleSoft