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Customer support platform Helpshift has closed a $23 Mn Series B funding with participation from new investors, Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and all previously existing investors, including Intel Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, True Ventures and Visionnaire Ventures. This brings the company’s total capital raised to $36.2 Mn. The proceeds would go towards further expansion across teams in R&D, sales and marketing.
Abinash Tripathy, CEO and co-founder of Helpshift stated, “ Our continued growth is a direct reflection of a capital-intensive support industry that’s ready for change. Consumers are tired of waiting for support agents to get back to them, and companies are tired of staffing expensive support teams to answer common, or even predictable, problems in the first place. People want immediate help, wherever they are, especially when using mobile applications. This is the year we champion a new model of support, one that’s better for both consumers, as well as the companies serving them.”
Starting in 2010 from Pune, Helpshift is now helping many global companies to engage their customers with their apps. Founded by Abinash Tripathy and Baishampayan Ghose, Helpshift, sits inside of their customers’ apps to ensure that their new expensive users remain engaged (through targeted push campaigns), and proactively avoid any in-app frustration through native FAQs and In-App Messaging. Happy, engaged users spend more money in-app, and are more loyal to the app.
The startup counts Zynga, VirginMedia, Microsoft, WesternUnion, Flipboard, Shyp, Luxe, WordPress and thousands of other industry leading brands, startups, and developers among its customers.
Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice president, Microsoft Ventures stated, “Helpshift has been a great partner for Microsoft and our investment today represents our confidence in their messaging-based approach to customer service, as we hold a shared value of providing the seamless experience customers want.”
The startup claims to be installed on more than 1.3 billion devices worldwide, and serves 300+ million mobile customers monthly. 93% of its customer base is outside India while the 7% Indian clientele consists of notable ones like Times Media (Gaana), PepperTap, Common Floor, Swiggy, and Redbus among others. Its competitors include Zendesk and Salesforce.
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