Former Apax India PE head picks up stake in AI firm Ascendion
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Former Apax India PE head picks up stake in AI firm Ascendion

By Siddhant Mishra

  • 30 Jan 2025
Former Apax India PE head picks up stake in AI firm Ascendion
Shashank Singh

Shashank Singh, the former India head of private equity firm Apax Partners, has picked up a “significant” equity stake in US-based Ascendion, an artificial intelligence-based software engineering services provider.  

Singh, who left Apax in 2023 after working with the PE firm for almost 20 years, will be Ascendion's first external investor and newest board member, the technology company said in a statement. 

He will focus on driving Ascendion's acceleration toward market leadership in AI-powered software engineering, the company said. 

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Ascendion is led by founder and CEO Karthik Krishnamurthy, a former Cognizant executive. The US-based company says it specialises in AI-powered software engineering services, and its platform AVA+ enhances developer velocity, operational transparency, and time-to-market outcomes. 

Ascendion has over 400 clients across North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe whom it assists in addressing challenges in applied AI, cloud, data, experience design, and workforce transformation. Headquartered in New Jersey, it has more than 40 offices globally and a staff count exceeding 11,000.

Singh played a significant role in numerous transactions during his tenure at Apax. One notable deal was Apax’s investment of $330 million in iGate in 2011, enabling the acquisition of a controlling interest in Patni Computer Systems for $1.2 billion. Others include a $200-million investment in Fractal Analytics and the $350-million acquisition of Healthium Medtech from TPG and other shareholders.

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He also oversaw Apax’s investments in companies such as Manappuram Finance, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, Apollo Hospitals, and Zensar Technologies, and sealed deals with Infogain, Shriram City Union Finance and GlobalLogic.

Singh was succeeded by Anurag Sud as India head. Sud is now leaving the firm, Apax said Wednesday, adding that it has appointed Harjot Dhaliwal as the new head of India operations,

Apax is an active investor in tech services and software businesses in India, having invested about $2.3 billion across eight tech and software deals, starting with iGate-Patni in 2011 and, most recently, GreytHR in 2024. Overall, Apax has invested about $3.6 billion across 13 transactions in India and realised $5.2 billion from eight completed exits and one partial realisation.

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