bt special
founders came with a set of client
IKYA
Start-up
on Steroids
● YEAR OF FOUNDING: October 2007
● FOUNDERS: Krishnan N., 45; Romesh
Advani, 37; Aruna Sharma, 43;
Srinivas T., 37; Muralimohan
Bachina, 41; Nilakshi Bhattacharya,
37; Amrita Nathani, 31; Hithendra
K.R.,31; Sayan Jyoti Gupta, 37; S.
Guru Prasad, 32; Richa Rudra, 36;
Vijay Sivaram, 28; Jaison Jose, 28;
Pratibha J.R., 35
● AREA OF OPERATION: HR Solutions
● FUNDING: $8 million by India Equity
Partners
● REVENUE: Rs 110 crore projected for
calendar 2008
● SIZE OF TARGET MARKET: $1.5-2 billion
● KEY COMPETITORS: Ma Foi, Ranstad,
Manpower Consultants
000 BUSINESS TODAY MAY 18 2008
I
T WAS AT ONE OF THEIR REGULAR
evenings-out in Bangalore that
Krishnan N. unveiled his start-
up plans to his six friends. It was
July 2007 and Krishnan was still
Director (Finance & Operations)
at Open Clovis, a US-based IT com-
pany, but he had been thinking of
striking out on his own and wanted
to put together a good team. His
friends, who worked in different
companies, liked the idea and Ikya
Human Capital Solutions was for-
mally incorporated in October,
2007. And what a fairy tale Ikya
is proving to be.
In the first three months of its
operations, Ikya, which provides
staffing, recruiting, search and learn-
ing solutions, reported Rs 35 crore
in revenues and broke even. It has
11 offices in eight cities and an-
other 12 cities on its radar. It started
with 175 full-time employees but in-
tends to add another 350. It’s also
eyeing a Bangalore-based facility
management firm for a possible
acquisition. What drives Ikya’s blis-
tering growth? The fact that its 14
The bigger the better: Advani (second from right) and
Krishnan (third from right) with their team
relationships that the start-up could
tap to get off the ground quickly.
“In my 20 years of career in differ-
ent companies, I always headed HR
and worked with all of them (the
founders),” says Krishnan. Adds
Gaurav Mathur, MD, India Equity
Partners, which has invested $8
million in Ikya: “The team at Ikya
has a proven track record, and in a
short period, it has proven that it is
not only a competent player but a
strong organisation to reckon with.’’
Buoyed by its success, Ikya,
which counts L&T, Toyota, Voda-
fone and Future Group among its
clients, is aiming big—perhaps, too
big—when it says it is targeting
Rs 1,000 crore in revenues by
March 2012. “Our core strength is
our flexibility in offering client-
specific solutions and use of tech-
nology in devising that,” says
Romesh Advani, Chief Operating
Officer. Look at it another way:
What’s the point if you are a start-
up and can’t dream big?
K . R . BALASUBRAMANYAM
DEEPAK G. PAWAR