Uniphore Raises $140 Mn In Series D, Eyes $100 Mn ARR In FY22

Chennai and Palo Alto-based enterprise tech company Uniphore that develops and provides conversational service automation-based software has raised $140 Mn in its Series D funding round led by Sorenson Capital Partners.

In a press statement, Uniphore said the funding round would help it capitalise on the growing demand for enterprise AI software solutions in the post-pandemic market. Furthermore, the company expects to achieve $100 Mn in contracted annual recurring revenue (ARR) in the fiscal year 2022 (FY22) which will end in March 2022.

The latest round of funding brings the total funds raised by Uniphore to $210 Mn. The Series D round also saw participation from Serena Capital, Sanabil Investments, and strategic investor Cisco Investments. The company’s existing investors March Capital Partners, National Grid Partners, Chiratae Ventures, Iron Pillar Fund, and Sistema Capital also participated in this round.

Before this, it raised a $51 Mn Series C round in August 2019 From March Capital Partners. Chiratae Ventures, Sistema Asia, CXO Fund, ITP, Iron Pillar, Patni Family.

The startup said it will use the capital from the latest round to sharpen its focus towards video-based AI applications and extend its technology and market leadership in AI, automation, and machine learning across the enterprise.

“With our recent acquisitions of RPA and video AI technology, we alone can deliver a conversational service automation platform for the modern enterprise, combining conversational AI and robotic process automation (RPA) across voice and video-based engagements,” said Umesh Sachdev, CEO, and cofounder of Uniphore

With this round, Rob Rueckert, managing partner at Sorenson Capital Partners will join Uniphore’s board of directors.

The lockdown has catalysed the digital transformation needs of many companies and put the focus directly on AI and automation to drive the transformation. as numerous organisations have increased their reliance on contact center agents to serve customer needs remotely using AI-based automation  replacing traditional support centres amid lockdowns and remote working.

Founded by Ravi Saraogi and Umesh Sachdev in 2008, Uniphore develops proprietary AI solutions named auMina and akeira in speech analytics and virtual assistant verticals. The company enables businesses globally to deliver customer service by providing an integrated suite of software products for conversational analytics, conversational assistant and conversational security.

The company also claims to be on track to hire more than ­­300 employees this next fiscal year.

Uniphore competes with players such as Yellow Messenger, Vernacular.AI and Reliance Jio-owned Haptik among others in the growing conversational AI and customer service and customer engagement market. According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global conversational AI market is expected to grow from $4.2 Bn in 2019 to $15.7 Bn by 2024, at a CAGR of 30.2% during the forecast period.