Japanese HR tech firm Mynavi Corporation has secured a majority stake in Awign, a Bengaluru-based on-demand work fulfilment platform. This deal marks the first significant cross-border acquisition within the HR tech sector in the past two decades.
Annanya Sarthak, co-founder and CEO of Awign, elaborated on the shared vision between Awign and Mynavi, emphasising their commitment to addressing India’s unemployment and underemployment challenges while striving to become the preeminent HR tech company in Asia.
“Both Awign and Mynavi want to create a large social impact in India and solve the problem of unemployment and underemployment at a very large scale. So we figured that Mynavi could come in with a very large patient capital, which can allow us to build longer-term strategies than just planning from one fundraiser to another. So all the boxes just got ticked in and we decided to go through the deal,” Sarthak stated in an interview with CNBC-TV18.
The collaboration with Mynavi opens doors for Awign to diversify its clientele globally, leveraging the network of companies associated with Mynavi.
Looking ahead, Awign aims to achieve a revenue of over a billion dollars by 2030 and serve over 1,000 customers. Moreover, the acquisition provides an exit strategy for early investors in Awign, including Lumis, MSDF, Amicus Capital, Pankaj Bansal, and Capria.
Capria Ventures, in particular, on the back of this full-cash exit from Awign, announced the final close of its India Opportunity Fund at ₹153 crore. Surya Mantha, Managing Partner of Capria, expressed pride in Awign’s accomplishments over the past six years and highlighted the significant returns generated for investors, showcasing the fund’s successful investment strategy.
“Capria Ventures was Awign’s first institutional backer, back in 2018. And we are really proud of what they have achieved over the last six years. So along with this exit, we also announced the final close of our Opportunity Fund at Rs 153 crore. We first invested in Awign from our India Fund 2 back in 2018 and have doubled down in Awign since then. In Fund 2, with just one exit, we have been able to return more than 50% of the fund to our LPs.
So it’s obviously a great day for us, we are quite happy and pleased and proud of what we’ve been able to do for LPs. Interestingly, even for the Opportunity Fund, which closed less than a couple of weeks back, we’ve been able to return more than 20% of the fund with just one exit. So it’s quite a milestone,” Mantha stated.
He added that the India Opportunity Fund will be investing in scaled-up assets from the previous two funds, with a key focus on startups addressing unemployment and employability challenges in India.
In a separate development, the climate-focused deep tech startup Ecozen has secured $30 million in a mix of debt and equity from Nuveen Global Fund and existing equity investors.
Vivek Pandey, co-founder and CTO of Ecozen, highlighted that the funds would be utilised for expanding the company’s presence in India, venture into global markets, and diversify into new sectors beyond agriculture technology.
With a decade-long journey marked by profitability, Ecozen aims to leverage its expertise in motor controls to drive decarbonisation efforts globally, particularly in mobility and milling segments.
In January last year, the Pune-based startup secured $25 million and has raised a total of $70 million across debt and equity to date. Vivek Pandey added that the company has set its sights on achieving a revenue of Rs 900-1,000 crore next year and envisions tapping into the public market within the next four years.
Watch the accompanying video for the entire conversation.