US-based IT company Marlabs expects to grow its data and artificial intelligence (AI) segment by 50 percent in the next two to three years, with a major boost from its centers in India.
“A majority of our case studies are developed in India. We may be front-end in the US, but the core of AI engineering or data engineering happens in India at Marlabs. For our new project, most of the employees are coming from our core locations – Bengaluru and Pune,” said Thomas Collins, CEO of Marlabs.
In line with expectations, the company aims to be an AI-first company by 2027.
Marlabs’ business model is divided into four segments: data and AI, product engineering, infrastructure and factories, and talent services, where it provides resources. The company’s data and AI side continues to grow at double-digit rates, while its product engineering side is seeing single-digit increases.
In January, Collins announced Marlabs plans to hire about 500 employees in India to double revenue growth over the next three years. The company currently has about 1,500 employees in the country.
Focusing on India, Collins stressed the importance of the country in terms of its talent pool. A large portion of the AI engineers are from India, spread across four locations: Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kochi and Pune.
“In terms of operations, India is the heart and core of the company. We run the business globally from India. The supporting functions like finance, HR, marketing, IT, etc., are specifically based in Bengaluru. We plan to grow those teams as our business grows,” Collins said.
Collins indicated that the impact of global macroeconomic uncertainty is significant in the latter two segments, as the first two are based on our customer’s innovative products.
“AI has had a big boost in the last 18 months. However, many customers want to save costs on day-to-day operations. So for us it is usually a matter of bargaining: growth on one side and reductions on the other,” he said.
Further, on the operational front, Collins highlighted that life sciences and healthcare are important verticals for Marlabs, noting that the company is helping a major life sciences client develop AI solutions for clinical trials and improve efficiency at one of the world’s largest hospital chains.
Marlabs expects the impact of the global tailwinds to improve in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. “Q3 would be one of our strongest quarters in a long time. We expect significant growth. It is not necessarily linked to the economy, but has a lot to do with our shift in focus to data AI and product engineering. Right now, we are seeing the benefits of the Onebridge acquisition that are driving synergies, opportunities and growth.”
On the India plan, Collins said: “We have offices in three locations in Bengaluru and want to use our current location. We want people to move back to offices so we can collaborate more. We plan to grow the teams in the existing teams and not add locations.”
First publication: Aug 19, 2024 | 12:02 AM IST