Carlyle-backed Hexaware Technologies is looking to develop metaverse solutions for various use cases including hybrid workplace and the fasion industry. The IT services company will also explore building non-fungible tokens (NFTs) fonce there is more regulatory clarity on it, said a senior company official.
“We are looking at the whole metaverse and NFT space which includes blockchain. We have been experimenting with blockchain for a few years now. Once there is more clarity on what kind of use cases will work for blockchain and currencies. We will explore building NFTs into a variety of use cases which are based on blockchain,” R Srikrishna, CEO, Hexaware Technologies told BusinessLine.
Speaking on creating hybrid work solutions, he added, “We are looking at advanced solutions like metaverse in the workplace. If you are fatigued by Zoom and Teams, you can have another (digital) avatar representing you. We have been building solutions around it, creating end-to-end experiences for employees.
The main work will be to train AI to replicate your facial expressions and lip sync with you as you speak. Extend that into different kind of meeting experiences. I think two big use cases of metaverse will be for the consumer space and work place.”
For instance, Fashion and entertainment industry can especially benefit. People can wear high fashion virtually or attend live concerts in the Metaverse, said Srikrishna.
Double digit growth
Over a year-and-a-half post delisting, the company has seen over 20 per cent revenue growth in the calendar year 2021, he said. Hexaware Technologies is now following calendar year instead of financial year.
He said, “Through the course of last year, we accelerated growth every quarter. At the end of the year, our YoY growth was at over 20 per cent much like it was for some of our fast-growing mid-cap peers. We expect to exceed 20 per cent growth organically for our fiscal year 2022.”
Hexaware Technologies currently has an order pipeline of $1.9 billion, of which nearly 40 per cent deals are hyperscaler related.
The company’s employee base grew to 25,000 by the end of 2021 as compared to 15,000 in 2020. The company plans to add 10,000 new employees in CY2022.
New stakeholder
A document image shared by the company confirms that the proceedings of the stake acquisition from Baring Private Equity Asia by Carlyle Group happened in FY21. Carlyle Group had reportedly offered $3 billion to Baring to acquire 95.4 per cent stake in the company.
“We have a new shareholder and consequently a new board has been formed. They invested in us because they like what we do. And they didn’t make any changes to that. They didn’t make any change in terms of strategy, investments, how we deal with customers or our clients. Nothing has changed,” Srikrishna said
The company will soon announce the new board members.
Published on
February 18, 2022
