ⓘ Featured image: Chakri Gottemukkala, president, CEO and co-founder of o9 Solutions; Credits: Dallas Business Journal
Founded by Hyderabad-based entrepreneurs, Sanjiv Sidhu and Chakri Gottemukkala, o9 Solutions is an integrated business planning solutions provider headquartered in Texas, US. The company earlier today announced that it has raised $100 million in a private equity round from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) a global investment firm at a valuation of $1 billion.
The company provides an artificial intelligence-driven platform which uses data to give companies better visibility into drivers of demand, real-time visibility into risks and opportunities across extended global supply chains and improved quality of forecasts using AI models.
o9 Solutions also has a significant presence in India and provides a planning and operations platform to enterprise clients including Walmart, Starbucks, Nestle, Tata, Aditya Birla Group, Asian Paints and more.
Commenting in the investment round, Chakri Gottemukkala, CEO of o9 Solutions in a statement said,
“The funding from KKR will help us accelerate growth across global markets including India. We have 300 people here and will be hiring more people in the next few months,”
The company revealed that it currently has an employee base of around 500 people and will utilise the fresh capital to hire more manpower across carious verticals to meet the increased demand.
Sharing key highlights from the last year, Gottemukkala added,
“India is where we hire world-class development and consulting talent. In the last year, our India team grew by close to 100%. We have onboarded about 100 new people even in the midst of the pandemic. We will continue to hire both experienced professionals and fresher,”
Jake Heller, Co-head of KKR’s Technology Growth team in the Americas, said,
“Digitization and the rapid advancement of economies in Asia are secular growth themes that KKR has been focused on. Sanjiv and Chakri are industry pioneers who have built a best-in-class team and technology platform for digitally transforming how supply chains and operations are managed. We are thrilled to be the first external investor in o9 and to provide the support of our global platform as the team continues to accelerate their growth in Asia.”
