Enterprisetech Unicorn GupShup Marks Its 4th Acquisition In 5 Months, Buys OneDirect

Enterprisetech unicorn Gupshup has acquired AI-enabled customer engagement platform OneDirect in an all-cash deal. As part of the deal, OneDirect’s founders and employees will be joining Gupshup. 

With this acquisition, Gupshup will strengthen its offerings by adding OneDirect’s agent assist solution to its suite. 

The latest acquisition comes barely months after Gupshup acquired cloud telephony startup Knowlarity, AI startup Active.Ai and AI startup AskSid this year. So, OneDirect is the fourth acquisition made by the enterprisetech unicorn in this year. 

Founded in 2013, OneDirect is an online customer service platform. It helps businesses manage customer conversations across multiple channels such as SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Google Business Messenger etc. Its offerings are service, messaging and feedback cloud. 

“Gupshup’s expertise and market leadership in the CPaaS space and its omnichannel customer service platform will help businesses redefine the digital customer experience. This acquisition will help both companies unlock new growth opportunities and further scale their enterprise CX offerings,” said Bharat Singh, operating partner at Sequoia Capital.

OneDirect, which offers services in 10 languages, claims to have served over 1 Bn customers to date. It counts Indian Railways, Myntra, KFC, Airtel and Indigo Airlines as its customers.

According to OneDirect, the startup has been backed by Sequoia Capital, American Express and ru-Net. 

Founded in 2004 by Beerud Sheth, Gupshup is a conversational messaging platform that helps companies enhance customer experience. It claims to be sending out over 7 Bn messages every month to enable conversations with customers. It counts Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Ola, Zomato, and Flipkart as its customers.

Gupshup has expanded its footprint across the globe including Latin America, India, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the US, according to the unicorn. 

In April 2021, Gupshup entered the coveted unicorn club after raising nearly $100 Mn in its Series F funding round at a post-money valuation of $1.4 Mn.

Gupshup faces competition from the likes of Zendesk, Yalo, SPECTRM, and Yellow.ai.

Recent Deals In The Customer Engagement Sector  

According to a report, the global customer service software market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 20.4% by 2025. The industry is poised to reach $2.5 Bn by 2025. 

The industry is buzzing with business activities. Recently, customer engagement platform MoEngage raised $32.5 Mn from Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital and Matrix Partners.

In March, customer engagement startup Xeno secured $1.6 Mn in its seed funding round from Vinyl Capital, Vibe Capital, Java Capital and Angel Invest Ventures.

Likewise, in January, customer engagement startup Exotel secured $40 Mn in a Series D funding round. The round was led by Steadview Capital.

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