Bangalore Global technology startups are either starting to establish a footprint in India or are expanding their existing operations to take advantage of the readily available pool of technology talent, particularly in niche digital areas such as analytics and data science .
For example, San Francisco-based tech startup Fluxen Apps Plc, which launched its operations in India in 2019, plans to hire around 1,000 people over the next two to three years. This will be done through the expansion of an existing office in Hyderabad as well as the establishment of a new center in Bengaluru by December 2022.
Arad Friedman, CEO of Fluxen, said, “India is an exciting market for Fluxen where we can discover the best talent and create impressive business opportunities to work in. We have already started working on exciting projects with companies based in India and will be opening two new offices next year.”
Similarly, Mitsogo Inc., a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based enterprise security startup based in San Francisco, recently launched a new office in Chennai to tap into the talent pool. The company plans to hire 300 technical professionals in Chennai over the next few months to add to its 250 workforce in Kochi. Mitsogo also has offices in Australia and Germany.
Meanwhile, Indonesia-based ride-hailing startup Go-Jek has taken a different route. The company only opened an R&D center to tap local talent as it has no direct operations in India. So far, Go-Jek has managed three firms—Bengaluru-based software firm C42 Engineering; Delhi-based development and operations firm CodeIgnition, and Bengaluru-based AirCTO, an AI-based recruitment platform.
There is a global shortage of skilled tech talent and “the pandemic has driven a lot of tech talent to move away from Silicon Valley and the Bay Area…” said Jayant Kolla, founder and partner at consulting firm Convergence Catalyst.
London-based AI-based fintech Bridgewave has 80% of its workforce in India. It recently launched a new product in the country and plans to double its workforce in India by the end of this year in various technical roles such as digital and data science.
“Product innovation is at the core of what we do, and India is important for two reasons. Our products are designed for digital investors and India is a unique one of substantial scale,” said Akshay Bhargava, Founder and Executive Chairman, BridgeWave. There is a market that is young, digital and investment friendly.” Therefore, we see India as a unique business opportunity. Second India is a source of talent for us.”
US-based data solutions firm iMerit Technology is planning to expand to Tier-II and -III cities. It has recently opened a Center of Excellence for AI Data Training in Hubballi, Karnataka. iMerit has 90% employees in India, out of which the total workforce is over 5,500.
“We have seen that the skills needed for our teams working on cutting-edge solutions for AI can be found across India, but hiring tends to saturate in limited urban areas. There is a need for recruitment and skill development across the landscape. Anirban Roychowdhury, Vice President, Human Resources, iMERIT, said, “Our vision is to identify talent in Tier-II and -III cities, followed by a robust skilling process.”
Hiring experts said more global startups could follow the trend. “Global companies are setting up businesses in India because of the huge multitude of benefits provided by the government and the presence of a skilled young workforce. Several large companies have expressed their intention to recruit up to 25,000 by the end of 2022 to leverage high quality talent at efficient cost,” said Sanjay Shetty, Director, PSS and Principal Client, Randstad India.
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