As a lead up to its IPO plans, workforce and skilling solutions company CIEL HR Services is looking at organic as well as inorganic growth as part of its expansion roadmap.The company has announced a strategic investment into Next Leap Career Solutions (brand name: Jombay) by signing an agreement to acquire its 100% equity stake in tranches. This acquisition is part of its vision to expand its offerings in the HR services space.

Jombay’s technology solutions are used by more than 500 organisations for identifying and building managers and leaders and making them future ready. Every year more than 200,000 managers and leaders go through Jombay’s assessments and development programmes.

Pi Capital and Legalogic advised Jombay through this deal and NovoJuris represented CIEL. Recording 80% growth in y-o-y revenue for H1’ 22-23, CIEL continues to expand its geographic footprint and service offerings. The company operates from 74 offices across 50 locations, and is looking to expand further.

“80% growth in H1 and the onset of the inorganic journey shows the growth ambitions and the inherent strength of the brand. I am confident that CIEL will continue to lead in innovations and emerge as one of the top five workforce and skilling solution companies in India by 2025,” said K Pandiarajan, executive chairperson and director - Ma Foi Group & CIEL Group.

It has launched 'ProSculpt' to give educational institutions and students opportunities for final placements and internships. The platform also enables students to access a wide array of learning content and assess themselves and plan their learning journey towards higher job-related knowledge and skills. Students will get a Ma Foi employability score that reflects their competence in their chosen domain and encourage them to invest in their own growth. To employers, the Ma Foi score is a validated score for quick short listing and acts as an aid in the hiring process.

“The acquisition of Jombay, in line with our IPO plans, is part of our strategic vision to expand our technology-led offerings in the HR services domain. Moreover, it will complement our existing subsidiary Integrum Solutions operating in the HR technology space and will help us expand our client portfolio in the market," said Aditya Narayan Mishra, managing director & CEO - CIEL HR Services.

“This strategic investment will help Jombay further expand its customer footprint and market penetration of its product portfolio mix across talent management, capability building, talent identification and succession planning,” said Mohit Gundecha, CEO of Jombay.