Uniphore a unicorn after  $400 mn  round

Uniphore Technologies Inc. entered the league of so-called unicorns after the conversational automation platform raised $400 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion.

Uniphore, founded in 2008, raised funds in a Series E round led by American venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA). March Capital, Sanabil Investments and Sorenson Capital Partners, and some existing investors also participated, Uniphore said in a statement on Wednesday. Unicorns are privately-held startups valued at $1 billion or more.

The latest round has swelled Uniphore’s total capital raised to $610 million so far. It last raised $140 million in March 2021.

The company plans to use the fresh funds to improve voice, artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision and tonal emotion, and to expand its business operations globally, specifically in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific, the startup said.

As part of the deal, Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, venture partner of NEA will join Uniphore’s board. Koplow-McAdams, an enterprise software and services industry veteran with more than three decades of experience, had stints in both growth-stage and established firms.

Uniphore also named Balaji Raghavan as chief technology officer, Andrew Dahlkemper as chief people officer, and Vinod Muthukrishnan as senior vice-president, developer platforms.

Founded by Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi, Uniphore is based out of Chennai and California, and competes with companies such as ASAPP and Cogito.

“Understanding conversations and the data and insights derived from them is essential to every business,” said Sachdev. “Our conversational automation engine has been delivering powerful and innovative solutions to help enterprises not just survive but thrive amid all the demands placed on them by customers.” In August 2019, it had raised $51 million in a Series C round led by March Capital Partners and with participation from Chiratae, Sistema Asia, CXO Fund, Iron Pillar and the Patni family.