greytHR Secures its Largest Investment in Series F Funding from Apax Digital Funds

5th August 2024

greytHR, a full-suite HRMS provider, announced that it has secured a strategic investment from Apax Digital Fund II (“the Apax Digital Funds”), advised by Apax, a leading global private equity advisory firm. The company will use the funds to leverage the significant growth opportunities in the cloud-based HR software market.

greytHR offers 40+ tools for automating HR, payroll, leave & attendance, and performance management, along with an employee self-service portal and mobile app. Serving over 23,000 customers in 25+ countries, it is a comprehensive HR ecosystem featuring HR professionals, experts, and chartered accountants. greytHR's customer-centric services include a community, training academy, compliance website, resources, webinars, and an award-winning podcast series.

The investment will enable greytHR to further enhance its product portfolio, including adding more strategic HR modules focused on recruitment and talent management, as well as support the company in accelerating growth and expanding into new customer segments, cementing its position as a market leader. 

“We’re excited to welcome Apax as part of our growth journey, marking a significant milestone for greytHR. We’re also deeply grateful to MegaDelta and Blume for their support and belief in our vision from the early days of greytHR. As outgoing board members and partners, the spirit of collaboration with Bala, Tarun, Ruchir, Kapel and Karthik is highly appreciated and will be truly missed. In the next chapter of our journey, we look forward to scaling new heights with the backing of Apax and our continuing shareholders Info Edge and GMO. Moreover, we wouldn’t be where we are today without the support of our customers, resellers, affiliates, and the entire greytHR community.” said Girish Rowjee, Co-founder & CEO of greytHR.

“This funding accelerates our plans to enhance customer experience and our R&D efforts by upskilling our employees and expanding our business. In fact, we have already started adding and building out AI-enabled modules and other value-added services to help our customers optimize their investment in greytHR.” added Sayeed Anjum, Co-founder & CTO of greytHR.

Mark Beith, Partner and Shashwat Shukla, Vice President at Apax Digital commented: “Small and mid-sized companies are pillars of the economy but have been underserved by legacy payroll and HCM solutions. greytHR enables businesses to save time and money by moving from complex and error-prone manual work to an automated and accurate next-gen solution with a mobile-first interface that delights employees. Drawing on our experience in the sector from previous Apax Fund investments, such as Paycor and Zellis, and having tracked the company for over two years, we are thrilled to partner with Girish, Sayeed and their team to take greytHR to new peaks.”

Anurag Sud, Managing Director at Apax, added: “greytHR represents the third investment by the Apax Funds, after Azentio and IBS Software, in the Indian software sector. The investment in greytHR is a classic example of the high-quality technology businesses the Apax Funds look to back in India.”

“At my previous firm, MegaDelta Capital, we took an unconventional view in backing greytHR, betting on Girish and Sayeed's bold vision to disrupt India's vast and underserved mid-sized companies with cloud-native HR solutions. Under their exceptional leadership, the company has executed with remarkable efficiency, becoming India's undisputed market leader. As a long-standing board member, I am grateful for the privilege of being their partner on this journey. Now as greytHR embarks on its next exciting phase with Apax, I wish the team continued success and a spectacular journey ahead, filled with stellar achievements.” stated Tarun Sharma, outgoing Board member.

Bala Deshpande, Managing Director at MegaDelta added: “MegaDelta identified the potential of Indian SaaS at the right time and partnered with greytHR among others. The entrepreneurs Girish and Sayeed have a unique blend of great tech skills and a deep understanding of the Indian market which proved to be a winning edge for investors. We at MegaDelta used our experience of scaling disruptive companies to the fullest in greytHR. Overall, a wonderful journey and investment.”

Karthik Reddy, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Blume Ventures added, “We are very happy for Girish, Sayeed and the entire greytHR team. Finding a deep believer and strategic partner in a world class firm like Apax is a testament to the solid foundation of the business, that’s primed for substantial growth. As their first investor, we enjoyed the gritty build out over a decade of partnership, and would’ve loved to partner for many more years if not for fund life limits. We are grateful for being partners in their journey and the handsome returns for Blume investors.”

As part of the transaction, Mark Beith and Shashwat Shukla will join greytHR’s board of directors. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2024 subject to customary closing conditions.

Ambit acted as the exclusive financial advisor to greytHR.