Customer engagement platform Smartwards acquired by cloud telephony firm Knowlarity

Customer engagement startup Smartwards Services Pvt. Ltd has been acquired by cloud telephony company Knowlarity Communications Pvt. Ltd.

When contacted, a spokesperson for Knowlarity declined to disclose the terms of the deal.

As part of the transaction, the two founders of Smartwards – Shantanu Mathur and Dhanraj Singh Bisht – will lead the India operations for Knowlarity. The deal will enable Knowlarity to integrate the Smartwards product and technology into its own product ecosystem to provide enterprise software solutions to small and medium businesses, Knowlarity said in a statement.

"We will continue to use acquisitions as a natural extension of our strategy to further build capabilities and acquire top talent," said Ambarish Gupta, CEO, Knowlarity.

Founded in 2013, Delhi-based Smartwards is a customer engagement platform which enables offline retailers to identify, track and engage their existing customers and walk-ins. The startup, which offers solutions for businesses in the retail space, claims to have over 40 clients across five cities in India.

"To make a successful product for the Indian customer, one has to solve the problem in-depth and at-scale. However, SME is not an easy market to crack in India and thus we were looking to move to a larger platform," said Shantanu Mathur, co-founder, Smartwards.

Founded in 2009 by Ambarish Gupta, Knowlarity provides cloud communications in emerging markets and provides comprehensive communication tools including, IVR, fax and conferencing facilities for SMEs, enterprise customers and individuals. For larger enterprises, it provides hosted IVR solutions integrated with their existing IT systems.

Knowlarity claims to have more than 15,000 customers across 65 countries. In July 2014, Knowlarity raised $15 million (around Rs 90 crore) in its Series B round of funding led by Mayfield Fund. That year, it had also acquired Delhi-based cloud telephony startup Unicom Techlabs Pvt. Ltd. In 2012, Sequoia had invested $6.6 million in Knowlarity. The firm recently moved its headquarters to Singapore and has offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our best reports.