Exotel raises $5.4 mn from A91 Partners

Bengaluru-based customer communication platform Exotel has raised Rs 40 crore ($5.4 million according to current exchange rates) from A91 Partners in a mix of primary infusion and secondary share purchase. 

The company will use the funds for product development and growing sales in the Asia market, said a statement issued by the company. The company will also initiate ESOP buyback for employees. 

Exotel previously raised a little over $0.5 million in seed round from Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and other early investors in 2012-13, according to data from VCCEdge. 

Founded in 2011 by Shivakumar Ganesan and Ishwar Sridharan, Exotel provides customer communication services to over 4,000 organisations including Flipkart, Ola, Swiggy, among others. The company moved close to 15,000 customer facing agents to its cloud telephony platform in the BFSI sector over the past few months due to the pandemic, said the statement. 

“Hardware silos destroy great customer experiences. Exotel's platform lets developers and companies break these silos down and build personalized and timely customer engagement across customer support, marketing, operations and sales,” said Shivakumar Ganesan, CEO of Exotel in the statement. 

Exotel exceeded Rs 120 crore in revenues for the financial year ending March 2020, according to the statement. 

“We have known Exotel for many years and have admired the company the founders and team have built. As the digital transformation of India and Asia accelerates, Exotel has a wonderful opportunity to realize its  vision to power customer communication for modern companies,” said Gautam Mago, general partner at A91 Partners. 

Exotel competes with the likes of Sequoia Capital backed Knowlarity, Ozonetel and others.