B2B software marketplace G2 to double its India workforce in three years

Software marketplace G2 is aiming at doubling its India team in the next three years. The US-based company will be hiring across functions including the global product engineering teams and the regional APAC go-to market teams for sales, Godard Abel, cofounder and CEO told TechCircle in an interaction.

G2, a company that offers verified peer review website for B2B software, was founded to eliminate dependence on traditional analysts for software discovery. Recognising the frustration of both software buyers and sellers, Abel founded G2 in 2012 — presenting it as the ‘Yelp or Amazon for software’. “G2 was created to offer a more consumer-like shopping experience for enterprise software, allowing buyers to discover apps through peer reviews. The vision was to democratise the software industry by enabling trusted software discovery and helping entrepreneurs build trust with customers through reviews,” said Abel, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) veteran who also co-founded Oracle CPQ (then BigMachines).

Abel added that G2’s platform featuring over 100,000 different software solutions, artificial intelligence (AI), and related services. The company, which rivals firms like Gartner and Forrester, features nearly three million reviews. 

G2 today has 3,500 customers globally, and APAC commands 10% of that base with India being the fastest growing region with clients like Zoho, Freshworks and Chargebees. The company entered India in 2019 with the acquisition of Siftery. The acquisition helped G2 establish a 20-member team in the country. “The number of employees in India has grown to 160 now and by early next year it will be over 200. We're continuing to hire because, in addition to India becoming a big SaaS market, we think it's the best place for STEM talent,” said Godard. 

Speaking about an Indian buyers’ behaviour, G2’s own surveyed has shown that 78% of them anticipate an increase in their technology and software spending in the coming year, which is higher than the global figure of 52%. While companies in the US and Europe have been more focused on consolidating their tech spend, India is experiencing the fastest growth. “India has truly evolved into a digital-first, IT-driven economy. This digital maturity is fueling increased software spending across the country,” he said.

The survey also found that there is a greater interest for AI solutions and platforms. “Already, 75% of respondents in India said their company had purchased an AI platform by March 2024, and that figure is likely higher today. This compares to only 56% in the rest of the world, showing Indian buyers are aggressively increasing their technology investments, especially in AI.”

G2 introduced an AI chatbot Monty AI in 2023 which has already seen a four-fold year-on-year increase among software buyers on the platform. In addition to answering specific queries, G2 has launched specialised Monty agents for different personas, including a support agent for vendors on G2's backend and a market intelligence agent providing real-time competitive insights. Monty supports multiple languages, including Hindi, Vietnamese, and Thai, enabling better engagement with buyers in Asia Pacific. Monty AI is based on OpenAI’s GPT model.