Skit raises $23 mn in WestBridge Capital-led Series B

Accel launches ‘Atoms’ program for early stage startups Artificial Intelligence platform Skit, formerly known as Vernacular.ai, has raised $23 million as part of its Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital along with participation from existing investors Kalaari Capital and Exfinity Ventures, among others.   

The Bengaluru-based company will use the funds for sales and marketing efforts, build delivery capabilities, boost its research and development and expand globally.

“This investment comes when we are making strategic inroads into the US and Southeast Asian markets.

Clients and investors alike have recognized the uniqueness and superiority of our product and continue to show confidence in our growth path.

The global contact centre market size is expected to grow steadily and reach a value of $496 billion by 2027,” Sourabh Gupta, co-founder, Skit, said.

He added “To address this sizable growth, we at Skit are using voice bot innovation and our market observations to personalize caller experiences at customer contact centers and deliver up to 50% cost reduction and superior customer experience.”

Founded in 2016 by IIT-Roorkee graduates Sourabh Gupta, Akshay Deshraj and Manoj Sarda, Skit automates the customer service operations of businesses through the use of natural language processing (NLP) technology in Indian languages through an AI-based voice automation platform named VIVA.

This enables companies to interact and engage with their customers in the languages preferred by them.  

The new round of funding brings the startups’ total raise to $30 million.

The firm said it has grown over 4 times since its last fundraise, it has built a strong partner network across industries such as banking, insurance, e-commerce, consumer durables, travel, among others. 

The company said it has strengthened its workforce by over 6 times to prepare for future growth.  

The platform claims to be recognised over 160 dialects in 10 different Indian languages to support the enterprise user base.   

Investor attraction to startups serving content and services in regional languages has grown, with companies seeking to move their core audience beyond tier-I and II locations. Firms across sectors have received funding.  

In July California-based Griffin Gaming Partners led $65 million (Rs 483.4 crore) as part of its Series C funding round.  

In the same month, PUBG developer Krafton led a $9 million (about Rs 66.8 crore) seed round in Mumbai-based game streaming platform Loco.   

In March, Dream Sports, the Mumbai-based company that owns fantasy gaming platform Dream11, scored a $400 million secondary investment from a slew of investors. The deal marked the first-ever India investment for Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm TCV.    

In February, Sequoia Capital-backed fantasy gaming and esports platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) raised $95 million (about Rs 695 crore) in a Series D round of fundraising. Two months later, it acquired Delhi-based GamingMonk.

In January, South Korean-based venture capital firm Hashed and Seung Yoon Lee led Rs 22 crore ($3 million) Series A round social audio platform Headfone