How ShepHertz is Building AI-Powered Platforms for Hiring
Fifteen years ago, Siddhartha Chandurkar left his role as head of the software product group at Wipro with a clear goal: to create technology that would help other businesses scale faster. In 2010, that vision became ShepHertz, a Gurugram-based software company that began by providing backend tools for developers.
“If a company wanted to build an application, all core services such as user management, rewards, achievements, and analytics could come from us. That way, businesses could focus on their product, while we took care of the backend,” Chandurkar explains.
Over the years, ShepHertz expanded its developer offerings to include App42 analytics, an API Gateway, Platform-as-a-Service solutions, and DevOps automation. The company’s real inflection point, however, came with its early and sustained focus on artificial intelligence. ShepHertz launched its first commercial AI service in 2012, well before the current wave of generative AI. By 2019, it had developed a facial recognition-based attendance system and several other AI-driven products that now generate the majority of its revenue.
“The market has completely shifted. Today, everything has an AI component, and that change has worked in our favour,” says Chandurkar, CEO of ShepHertz. The company counts IndiGo, Kotak Securities, Spencer’s, Reliance, Tata, Hungama, and L&T Realty among its clients.
Securing Remote Work During the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic forced a sudden shift to remote work, creating acute security challenges for BPOs, banks, and healthcare organisations that handle sensitive data. These industries had long relied on strict clean-desk policies—no phones, no cameras, and tight controls against data leaks.
ShepHertz responded with wAnywhere, an AI-powered platform designed to secure remote work environments. The system uses facial recognition to verify that the authorised employee is at the desk, detects multiple or unknown people on camera, flags suspicious behaviour, and can lock the system if needed. It also tracks productivity metrics, websites visited, and hours worked.
Today, many of India’s top 10 BPOs use wAnywhere. The product has become the company’s primary revenue driver and established ShepHertz as a significant player in AI-driven enterprise security. The firm now offers six products, with wAnywhere and talentAnywhere.ai as its two flagship platforms.
From Secure Work to Smarter Hiring
The success of wAnywhere prompted Chandurkar to examine another broken process: recruitment. “When we looked at job portals, we realised they hadn’t changed in 20 years. They still look like classifieds. It’s like dating; there are good people and good jobs, but they don’t meet,” he says.
In 2024, ShepHertz launched talentAnywhere.ai, an AI-powered job platform built for the hybrid and remote-first era. For recruiters, it provides automated resume shortlisting, AI avatars that conduct first-round interviews, and tools to generate job descriptions. For candidates, it offers AI-generated resumes tailored to specific roles, mock interviews with avatars, skill gap analysis, and negotiation bots to help with salary discussions.
The platform serves a wide range of employers, from IT services firms and startups to delivery companies, agencies, and gig platforms, and supports candidates across roles including software developers, sales professionals, delivery workers, and marketers.
ShepHertz builds many of its foundational AI models in-house. In some cases, including talentAnywhere, it layers proprietary capabilities onto existing large language models such as GPT or Gemini. “Different solutions need different approaches. But our goal is always the same: to use AI in a way that creates real value for the customer,” Chandurkar explains.
Traction, Business Model, and Funding
In less than a year, more than 2,000 enterprises have registered on talentAnywhere.ai, and the candidate base has crossed 1,000 users. The company is also testing international markets, starting with the Philippines, where high BPO attrition creates strong demand for efficient hiring tools.
ShepHertz prioritises quality over volume. The company operates a B2B2C model. wAnywhere is a pure enterprise product sold on a subscription basis, with monthly plans ranging from $6 to $18 per user. talentAnywhere is currently free for both companies and candidates, with plans to introduce enterprise pricing later based on usage of resumes, interviews, and AI tools.
ShepHertz has raised approximately $2 million over the years from investors including Blume Ventures, growX Ventures, Kae Capital, and India Quotient. It has largely grown through internal cash flow and is now in its fifth consecutive year of profitability. “This is our fifth year of profitability. Our DNA is to focus on cash flow, not valuation,” Chandurkar notes.
The company employs more than 100 people, with headquarters in Gurugram and an office in Bengaluru. About 95% of the workforce is remote, with team members operating from locations as varied as Goa and the Himalayas.
Challenges and the Road Ahead
Chandurkar views every job portal as a competitor, from established players like Naukri to newer niche platforms. He believes ShepHertz differentiates itself by offering an AI-first solution that spans the entire hiring lifecycle rather than focusing on a single stage such as interviews or analytics.
Scaling remains a challenge for a company that has long been founder-led. Elevating internal talent into leadership roles and preparing for the next phase of growth has required deliberate effort. Building AI capabilities before tools like ChatGPT matured also demanded significant in-house investment.
According to Maximixe Market Research, the global AI recruitment market stood at about $661 million in 2023 and is projected to exceed $1.1 billion by 2030. ShepHertz aims to capture roughly 10% of that opportunity over the next three years.
Looking forward, the company is focused on expanding talentAnywhere with career bots, predictive tools that assess how a new hire might perform, and stronger negotiation support for candidates. It also sees substantial potential in Global Capability Centres as multinational firms continue to build large teams in India.
“AI will significantly impact India’s service industry. We want to align talentAnywhere to support GCCs, because their focus is mass hiring,” Chandurkar says.
From backend developer tools to secure remote work and now AI-driven talent matching, ShepHertz has consistently adapted to shifts in how businesses operate. With profitable growth, a dual-product focus, and a clear emphasis on practical AI, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of the future of work and the future of hiring.