Gupshup raises $240 mn from Tiger Global, others
GUPSHUP, WHICH HAS A PRESENCE IN LATIN AMERICA, ASIA, EASTERN EUROPE, US, AND AFRICA, IS EYEING A US LISTING IN 2022
MUMBAI: Gupshup, a conversational messaging platform for companies to manage customer interactions, on Wednesday said it has raised an additional $240 million in follow-on funding that will go toward a share buyback from employees and existing investors ahead of a US listing next year.
The funding round was led by investors including Fidelity Management and Research Company LLC, Tiger Global, Think Investments, Malabar Investments, Harbor Spring Capital, accounts managed by Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC, White Oak, Neeraj Arora and others.
This funding round follows the $100 million fundraise from Tiger Global in April, at a $1.4 billion valuation.
Gupshup helps businesses interact and manage customer requirements through AI-powered conversations on messaging apps across marketing, commerce and support workflows. Customers can discover products, pay for them, track delivery, provide feedback and get support in a business aimed at building a conversational rapport between customers and businesses.
“Large part of this round of fundraising will go towards secondary purchase of shares from current and ex-employees of the company as well as the existing investors. We ran a tender offer process concurrently with this round and over 200 employees have tendered part of the shares they held. Some of our investors who have been invested in the company for a long time also tendered some of their shares,” said Beerud Sheth, co-founder and CEO of Gupshup.
Some of the early investors of Gupshup include Helion Ventures and Charles River Ventures, which had invested in the company in 2008.
“When we were raising the previous $100 million funding from Tiger, there was a lot of interest from many other investors. So we decided to do this second round, which helped us provide liquidity to our shareholders. And since we are looking to go public, it was a good opportunity to bring in these marquee crossover investors in this round,” said Sheth.
Gupshup is eyeing a US listing sometime in 2022, he added.
Gupshup, which ended 2020 with an annual revenue runrate of approximately $150 million, is present in India, Latin America, South East Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and the US.
“The company is growing at 60% year-over-year and we are hoping to accelerate this growth. India comprises 80% of the business and US is the next big market with 10-15% share, but geographies such as LATAM and South East Asia are seeing fast growth,” said Sheth.
While the majority of its business comes from enterprise customers, Sheth said the focus going ahead will also be to tap small businesses that have been forced by the pandemic to quickly adopt more technology.
“Conversations represent the new digital storefront for businesses - virtually every business will need to build them. And small businesses are an untapped market where we see a lot of growth coming from,” said Sheth,
“We see substantial growth in India’s digital economy,” said Shashin Shah, managing principal at Think Investments, which invested in the current round. “Gupshup’s platform is an essential tool for businesses building a digital footprint. We’re excited to partner with Gupshup, given its market-leading position, innovation-led growth and attractive financial profile.”