Goldman Sachs’s private equity arm has acquired a majority stake in PeopleStrong, the HR software-as-a-service (SaaS) in a $130 million (about Rs 1,200 crore ) deal. The investment bank acquired 84 per cent stake that Multiples PE had in the firm and also bought out some portion of the ESOPs from the employees of the firm.
It is pertinent to mention here that Multiples PE had acquired majority stake in PeopleStrong in 2017 in deal worth about Rs 400 crore. At the time it had bought out shares in PeopleStrong that were held by Lumis Partners.
Founded by Pankaj Bansal in 2005, PeopleStrong caters to more than 500 organisations. In addition to India, this Gurugram-based firm operates in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
The deal has been under negotiation for at least four months now with Goldman Sachs and Multiples PE having discussed it in detail.
PeopleStrong’s AI-driven platform offers applicant-tracking systems, talent management, employee experience, and payroll. Its clients are spread across various industries, including retail, aviation, financial services, healthcare and manufacturing.
While its existing client base comprises almost two million individual users, PeopleStrong intends to take this figure up to 10 million users by 2030.
PeopleStrong reportedly posted total revenues of about Rs 274.5 crore in the 2024 fiscal, which was slightly higher the Rs 271.7 crore it posted in FY23. It reported a net profit of about Rs 57 crore in the year ended March 2024.
Sandeep Chaudhary is the CEO of PeopleStrong, and he is reportedly excited to leverage Goldman Sachs’ expertise in AI and SaaS to drive growth and innovation.