Aon Hewitt buys Gurgaon-based online assessment startup CoCubes

Human capital and management consulting services firm Aon Hewitt has acquired Gurgaon-based CoCubes Technologies Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates online assessment and campus hiring platform CoCubes.com, for an undisclosed sum.

With this transaction, Aon Hewitt, a global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon Plc, aims to add two million assessments to its existing global portfolio of 20 million assessments spread across 164 countries, the company said in a statement on Monday.

"We were actively looking for an organisation that focuses on employability assessments. CoCubes stood out for us as a successful startup with its profitable growth, resilient leadership team and an innovative technology platform. With its strong client standing and value-aligned leadership, CoCubes is clearly our partner of choice to augment our assessment solutions in India and across other markets in Asia Pacific," said Sandeep Chaudhary, chief executive, India Consulting, Aon Hewitt.

Founded in 2007 by IIT Bombay alumni Harpreet Singh Grover and Vibhore Goyal, CoCubes connects colleges, students, and corporates using assessments. It allows students to learn about companies that are hiring at campuses. They can 'follow' these firms, similar to the way companies are followed at job networking sites such as LinkedIn and stay updated about news, happenings and internship opportunities at enterprises of their choice.

Students can also set up profiles with their resumes and share them with firms. They can also have access to videos and online test assessment tools of various companies which allows them to prepare themselves for placements and enhance their chances of employment. They can compare test scores with other students and rate themselves. Students can also participate in polls and view offer letters on the website.

In September, Ojas Venture Partners-backed CoCubes was among the four Indian startups who got selected by LinkedIn to launch its India-first initiative called 'Placements.'

CoCubes has got two rounds of funding of nearly $2 million till now – one in 2009 and the other in 2011 – both from Ojas Venture Partners, according to VCCEdge, the research and data platform of News Corp VCCirrcle. Ojas is a $35 million India-focused venture firm investing in technology-based businesses. Pavan Krishnamurthy and Gautam Balijepalli from Ojas were on the board of CoCubes.

It, last year, acquired Edcited, which provides enterprise resource planning solutions to schools and colleges.

"With the acquisition of CoCubes, we will now be a one-stop-shop for entry-level hiring assessment solutions. CoCubes complements our specialization in behavioral and leadership assessments with technical and vocational assessments, in addition to its innovative proctoring solutions. By solving the employability challenge with educational institutions and sector skill councils, Aon Hewitt is now geared to fulfill the entry level hiring needs for corporate clients," said Sethi.