New Delhi, April 26 -- Awign, an HR-tech startup that offers Work-as-a-Service platform, has found an international strategic investor that has picked a majority stake, paving the way for an exit for early venture capital backers Capria Ventures, Lumis, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) and also a recent backer private equity firm Amicus Capital.
Japan's Mynavi Corporation has bought a majority stake in the company in an all-cash deal. Mynavi already held nearly 7% stake in Awign, it is gathered.
The company did not share details of the transaction but information pieced together by VCCircle shows the Awign was valued around Rs 1,000 crore or $120 million. This means the acquirer would have shelled out over Rs 500 crore to buy the stake or more than $60 million.
This provided a neat profit for selling shareholders as also other investors who have stayed put.
Capria Ventures was the original institutional investor that put in Rs 3 crore over six years ago. It was followed by Lumis that came in soon after bringing in around Rs 3.5 crore in two tranches.
Meanwhile Capria went on to invest more money over the next three years to take its total exposure via its fund II to around Rs 22-24 crore. Capria later invested more as part of its more recent rounds via an opportunities fund.
The fund II has managed a multiple on invested capital of over 7x translating into sale value of around Rs 160 crore. This fund held around 16% stake on a fully diluted level, giving an implicit valuation of around Rs 1,000 crore to Awign.
Lumis that held around 2% stake will pocket close to Rs 20 crore or nearly 6x, having entered at a higher valuation compared to the initial bet by Capria.
Meanwhile, Amicus Capital, that invested in Awign in September 2022 along with other new backers as part of a $15 million round, will be pulling out with around 2.5x translating into a high annualised return of around 80-85%, it is estimated.
Amicus did not comment on the returns it has managed from the quick exit move. The PE firm is in the process of raising its second fund and had marked a first close early this year. This exit is expected to boost its case to attract money from Limited Partners.
Set up in 2016 by Gurpreet Singh, Annanya Sarthak and Praveen Shah, Awign uses a network of gig workers to complete on-the-ground work needed to be fulfilled by partner companies.
The company's clientele includes the likes of Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Group, Swiggy, Britannia and upGrad, among others.
In FY23, the firm clocked Rs 134 crore in net sales, as it doubled its revenue as compared to FY22, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle. But its net loss too rocketed to Rs 40 crore from Rs 20 crore the previous year.
Annanya Sarthak, co-founder & CEO of Awign, said that Work-as-a-Service, as a concept, has evolved since COVID-19 and this partnership will help the company to scale its operations and go beyond its core strengths: "Our primary focus remains on strengthening our growth engine by onboarding enterprise customers worldwide and launching new categories in the HR space."
It boasts a network of more than 1.5 million gig partners and collaborates with over 175 enterprises.
IndigoEdge, Anoma Legal and Aeka Advisors advised Awign along with their existing investors while Deloitte, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune LPC and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised Mynavi for this transaction.
Established in 1973, Mynavi is one of the largest HR companies in Japan with offices in Japan, USA, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Poland, and India.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.