EMA Partners acquires Taggd for $10Mn
EMA Partners India has agreed to acquire Taggd, India’s largest homegrown recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) firm, in an all-cash deal valued at ₹95 crore (US$10.06 million).
According to a company press release, the transaction combines EMA Partners’ C-suite hiring practice with Taggd’s AI-powered RPO platform — creating integrated talent solutions spanning executive search, professional search, and RPO.
EMA Partners India operates globally across executive and leadership search; Taggd has enabled more than 700,000 permanent hires and serves more than 100 enterprise clients across 14-plus industries.
Taggd’s AI-powered RPO depth completes EMA partners stack
Taggd posted INR 93 crore (US$10.06 million) in FY2024-25 revenue, with the ₹95 crore (US$10.06 million) all-cash price implying approximately one times revenue.
Taggd will continue under its existing brand and leadership — providing continuity while gaining EMA Partners’ global network and board-level advisory expertise. The deal positions EMA Partners to serve clients across the full talent lifecycle — from AI-powered volume RPO at entry level through C-suite and board succession planning.
“The company has built a high-quality business with revenues of over INR 93 crore, strong enterprise relationships and differentiated technology capabilities,” said K. Sudarshan, Chairman and Managing Director of EMA Partners India.
EMA partners builds full-spectrum India talent platform
India’s RPO market has expanded as enterprises across technology, financial services, and consumer sectors shifted from in-house recruitment to outsourced providers capable of volume hiring at speed with AI-driven screening. Taggd’s 2030 goal — enabling one million jobs through agentic AI — gives EMA Partners a technology roadmap beyond its leadership advisory roots.
EMA Partners and Taggd together cover both ends of the Indian talent market — high-stakes leadership hires at one end, high-volume AI-powered RPO at the other.
“Taggd has established itself as a preferred RPO partner for enterprises in India,” said Pankaj Bansal, Co-founder, and Devashish Sharma, CEO, of Taggd.
India’s executive search segment is dominated by global firms — including Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles, and Korn Ferry — with EMA Partners differentiating through its India-listed structure and local market depth.
The Indian RPO market has drawn global players including Allegis Group, Manpower, and Adecco — though local providers such as Taggd built significant enterprise share by embedding AI-native tools at lower cost structures.
For EMA Partners, the Taggd deal is as much a technology investment as a revenue addition — layering AI-powered volume hiring tools onto a traditionally high-margin, high-touch executive search business.
