Uniphore raises $140 million in Series D funding

Chennai: Uniphore, an enterprise conversational service automation platform, has raised $140 million (around Rs 1,023.6 crore) in a Series D round, 16 months after its last fundraiser.

The round in Chennai-based Uniphore has been led by Sorenson Capital Partners, a United States-based growth-stage investor that focuses on enterprise software.

Other participants in this round include Serena Capital and Sanabil Investments, based in France and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Cisco Investments also took part along with March Capital Partners, National Grid Partners, Chiratae Ventures, Iron Pillar Fund, and Sistema Capital.

As part of this fundraise, Sorenson Capital managing partner Rob Rueckert will join Uniphore’s board of directors.

With this infusion – largest so far – Uniphore says it has raised $210 million since it was set up. In August 2019, the company raised $51 million (Rs 363 crore) in a Series C round led by March Capital Partners. Chiratae, Sistema Asia, CXO Fund, Iron Pillar, and the Patni family also invested.

Uniphore was founded in 2008 by Jaypee University of Information Technology alumni Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi.

The company, backed by former Cisco Systems chairman John Chambers, will also focus on video-based AI applications following its acquisition of Emotion Research Labds, which was announced earlier this year. Other sectors it will focus on include trust, security, and robotic process automation (RPA).

“Given the rapid digital transformation happening across the enterprise, the need for automated and intelligent solutions to help drive new business models has never been greater,” Sachdev said. “With our recent acquisitions of RPA and video AI technology, we alone can deliver a conversational service automation platform for the modern enterprise.”

In June last year, YourNest Venture Capital netted stellar returns from its six-year investment in Uniphore.