Uniphore Software Systems Pvt, a global conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology startup based in Chennai, India and Palo Alto, California, has announced that it has raised USD 51 million in Series C funding led by March Capital Partners. The latest round was reinforced by Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures), Sistema Asia, CXO Fund, ITP, Iron Pillar and Patni Family, amongst others. Uniphore’s new round is their largest funding so far, and marks “one of the most substantial funding rounds in the conversational AI sector.”
This Indian startup promotes the use of the AI in call centers to bridge the gap between people and machines through voice, and aims to substantially innovate customer service, a market that is valued at USD 350 billion. According to the statement, the funds will be used to accelerate Uniphore’s go-to-market in North America, invest in research and development for the next wave of improvements on its platform, and globally expand its employee base.
Umesh Sachdev, CEO and Co-founder, Uniphore, said, “This funding will accelerate our vision to redefine customer service through AI-enabled Conversational Service Automation (CSA). We have always been strong innovators, and our global customers continue to rely on our solutions to help them deliver exceptional customer service. With this new round of funding, we will be able to accelerate our global expansion and better serve our customers by developing and delivering innovative CSA solutions to more organizations around the world.”
Sumant Mandal, Managing Director of March Capital Partners, added, “Uniphore’s unique technology enables a proactive approach by recognizing the true intent of customer calls and predicting what is coming next. Uniphore is not only anticipating what the future of customer service will be – they are leading the charge, and we look forward to working closely with them as they continue to innovate.”
John Chambers, CEO and founder of JC2 Ventures, and an active advisor to Uniphore, said, “Uniphore’s innovative conversational AI solutions address the growing needs of businesses to provide personalized customer experiences more efficiently and effectively. I believe Umesh and his team are well positioned to revolutionize the customer service industry while continuing to expand the market share. I echo March Capital’s sentiment that the future is extremely bright for Uniphore.”
Automated messaging systems and chatbots (or voice bots) are already changing the labor-intensive nature of call centers, and, based on expert estimations, artificial intelligence will gradually replace the majority of human workers in this industry. In addition, a global research and advisory company Gartner, Inc. predicts that by 2021, about 70 percent of organizations will integrate AI in the workplace to assist their employees’ productivity.
