Voice AI startup Uniphore in talks to raise $38 mn in Series C round

Bengaluru: Speech recognition solutions company Uniphore Software Systems Pvt. Ltd is in talks to raise a Series C round of $38 million led by California-based March Capital Partners, according to documents sourced from business information platform Paper.vc.

The ongoing round may also see participation from new investors, including National Grid Partners, Sistema Asia Fund, IntuitiveVC, The CXO Fund and Patni Wealth Advisors, and existing investor Chiratae Ventures, according to Uniphore's documents filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Paper.vc’s calculations estimate that Uniphore, which has offices in India, the US and Singapore, is likely to be valued at $130 million after the current round.

“As a fast growing startup we are in a phase where we constantly see interest from customers, employees and investors who see the value we bring to the market. As we have news in these areas we will announce them. We will not provide commentary on speculations,” said Umesh Sachdev, chief executive of Uniphore when contacted by Mint.

Founded in 2008 by Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi, Uniphore offers a suite of speech assistant, authentication, recognition and analytics solutions, which help government authorities and corporate entities reach targeted customers by interacting with them in vernacular languages.

Currently, the startup offers three speech products, including Akeira, a virtual assistant focused on business-to-customer engagement, amVoice, which offers voice authentication, and auMina, for speech analytics.

In December 2017, former Cisco chief executive officer John Chambers picked up a 10% stake in Uniphore in his personal capacity.

In August 2017, the startup secured an undisclosed amount of funding from existing investors, including Chiratae Ventures, Indian Angel Network, YourNest Angel Fund, and others in its Series B round.

In May 2015, Uniphore had raised undisclosed funding from investors, including Infosys Ltd co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and others in its Series A round.