Agilisium flips the script on AI hiring, targets $500 mn revenue

CHENNAI: “Why don't we hire an MBBS student, teach them programming and let them solve the business problem?” This is how Agilisium founder-CEO Raj Babu is challenging conventional IT hiring, as the life sciences technology company bets on domain expertise and artificial intelligence (AI) to target $500 million in revenue over the next five to seven years.

The company, which expects to achieve $100 million in revenue next year, is shifting from technology services to consulting-led business transformation, helping pharmaceutical companies deploy AI across clinical research, drug development and commercial operations.

“We don't like to call ourselves a technology services company. We are a life sciences industry business process transformation and innovation partner,” Babu said during a media interaction here on Monday.

Agilisium is recruiting professionals in biotechnology, microbiology, pharmacology and medicine and training them in technology. They will become forward deployment experts (FDEs), combining domain knowledge, AI skills and consultative problem-solving to work directly with clients.

“Why don't we then hire an MBBS student, teach them vibe coding and let them solve the business problem?” Babu said, arguing that teaching technology to a medical graduate could be easier than teaching complex biology to a programmer.

The company has trained close to 100 FDEs and aims to scale this to more than 700 next year through an AI-powered training platform. It has also brought five to 10 US citizens with family backgrounds in India to Chennai for six months of training before deploying them at client locations.

Founded in 2014, Agilisium pivoted to life sciences in 2018 and has since recorded year-on-year growth of about 45% in the segment. Its global workforce stands at around 1,400, including 700-800 employees in Chennai and close to 200 in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad is expected to overtake Chennai in headcount as Agilisium expands alongside Telangana's life sciences ecosystem. Its other locations include Pune, Canada and Costa Rica, while its key US markets span the Boston-New Jersey-Philadelphia corridor, California and Chicago.

India currently contributes 5% of revenue, but Babu expects its share to rise to 15-20% when revenue reaches $500 million.

The bootstrapped company is financially strong, with no immediate fundraising plans, though it is open to strategic partnerships that accelerate growth. “We are financially sound. If a partner can help us become 10 times bigger, faster and more securely, we would be interested,” Babu said, adding the ambition is to build an innovation partner for pharma rather than another conventional IT services company.