With a major push from its India centres, US-based IT firm Marlabs is expecting to grow its data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) segment by 50 per cent in the next two to three years.
“A majority of our case studies are engineered in India. We might be front-ended in the US, but the core of AI engineering or data engineering takes place in India at Marlabs. For our new project, most of the employees are from our core locations – Bengaluru and Pune,” Thomas Collins, CEO, Marlabs, said,
In line with the expectations, the firm aims to become an AI-first company by 2027.
Marlabs’ business model is divided into four segments – data and AI, product engineering, infrastructure and plants, and talent services, where it provides resources. The company’s data and AI continue to grow double-digit, while the product engineering side is witnessing a single-high-digit increase.
In January, Collins announced Marlabs’ plans to hire about 500 employees in India to churn out double revenue growth in the next three years. At present, the company has about 1,500 employees in the country.
With a focus on India, Collins emphasised the importance of the nation in terms of its talent pool. A major chunk of AI engineers are from India across four locations – Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kochi, and Pune.
“In terms of operations, India is the heart and core of the company. We run the company globally from India. The support functions such as finance, HR, marketing, IT, etc., are specifically based in Bengaluru. We plan to grow those teams as we grow our company,” Collins said.
Talking about the macroeconomic tailwinds, Collins said that the impact of global macroeconomic uncertainty is major in the last two segments as the first two are based on our client’s innovative products.
“AI has had a big boost in the previous 18 months. However, many clients want to save costs on daily operations. Hence, it is mostly a wash for us – growth on one side and reductions on the other side,” he said.
Furthermore, on the operations front, Collins emphasised that life sciences and healthcare are key verticals for Marlabs. He noted that the firm is assisting a major life sciences client in developing AI solutions for clinical trials and enhancing efficiency in one of the world’s largest hospital chains.
Marlabs expects the impact of global tailwinds to improve in the third quarter of financial year 2025. “Q3 would be one of our strongest quarters in a long time. We expect significant growth. It is not necessarily tied to the economy, but has a lot to do with our shift of focus in terms of data AI, and product engineering. At present, we see the merits and benefits of the Onebridge acquisition propelling into synergies, capabilities, and growth.”
About the India plan, Collins said, “We have offices in three locations in Bengaluru and would want to utilise our existing location. We want to get people to move back into offices so we can collaborate more. We intend to grow the teams in the existing ones and not add locations.”
First Published: Aug 19 2024 | 12:02 AM IST
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