Bengaluru-based FirstMeridian Business Services has completed its acquisition of RLabs, an IT staffing and consulting firm with over 1200 technology professionals deployed across their clientele in more than 40 locations in India. This marks the sixth acquisition by the FirstMeridian Group since its founding in mid-2018.

 “RLabs is our third acquisition in the IT Staffing space over last three years. All these businesses have built their niches in the technology space, and we believe they complement each other under the overall FirstMeridian technology staffing landscape. Each of these businesses shall be independently managed, hereby realising scaling effects quickly while maintaining flexibility to expand. This acquisition of RLabs enables us to effectively support our customers in their growth as trusted partner for their technology personnel,” said Sudhakar Balakrishnan – group CEO, FirstMeridian.

Anurag Gupta, president, IT staffing, FirstMeridian said tech staffing business has evolved globally in the past 2-3 years. It is now pivoting to providing talent with multiple skill combinations in emerging technologies through contracting and managed services models.  "At the FirstMeridian tech staffing division, we have been investing in companies that will help us scale in this space. RLabs is one such renowned enabler with credible reputation among its marquee global clients, bringing in its deep tech knowhow of SAP stack and emerging technologies, and a very seasoned management team. RLabs will further strengthen our abilities to setup and manage offshore delivery centres (ODCs) for our global clients besides providing traditional IT staffing,” he added.  

On the completion of the acquisition, Vinodh Venkatesan, CEO, RLabs said FirstMeridian’s deep market relationships in technology staffing space and PAN-India presence with more than 50 branches and over 3500 deployment locations will enable RLAbs in setting up full-fledged delivery centres in multiple geographies, extending its SAP competency offerings to the domestic market.

“With RLabs operating as a part of the FirstMeridian Group, we believe we will be able to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions with accelerated turnaround time. We believe this is the right step forward in achieving service automation, operational excellence and strengthening our partnership with our key clients,” he added.

FirstMeridian was founded in mid-2018 when investors Goldman Sachs, Samara Capital and Janchor Partners came together to back an HR investment platform empowered by technology and innovation in staffing, managed services, recruitment and HR Automation. Since its inception, FirstMeridian has acquired six HR solution providers, namely Innovsource, V5 Global, Affluent Global, Cornucopia, CBSI and RLabs, with a combined headcount of 110,000 associates who are serving over 1100 clients spread across more than 3500 locations throughout the country.

As per the assessment of staffing solutions market in India report by Frost & Sullivan, the country is witnessing high growth in technology hubs/ captives that are being set up by global companies. 

India has several advantages such as the availability of skilled talent, favourable operating environment, and language skills, which are attracting the global companies. In the beginning of 2021, more than 40 captives were in different stages of development in India. Existing captives are also scaling up their operations, as COVID-19 has accelerated the digital adoption across end user segments. Around 150 – 200 new companies are expected to set up captives in India over the next three years and this is projected to create 300,000 – 350,000 technology jobs.