An exciting software startup announced the ninth unicorn startup of the year 2022
We have reached mid-February, and the ninth unicorn software startup of the year has been announced. What a splendid and amazing piece of news it is!
Let us talk about the software industry. First of all, we should define what is a software industry. The name software industry is an umbrella term for businesses that are engaged in the development, maintenance, and publication of software. The other portions of the industry also are the software services like training, documentation, consulting, and data recovery.
The software industry across the world is divided into four prime categories, which are programming services, system services, open-source, and SaaS. The basic difference between the software industry and the IT industry is that the software industry is engaged in creating, changing, and maintaining useful products. The IT industry on the other hand is engaged in making sure that all the systems, devices, and software work together in order to help the people work done.
Talking about the size of the global software industry, the market value of the industry in the year 2021 was USD 968.25 billion, growing at a CAGR of 4% from the year 2020 when its market value was USD 930.93 billion. The market value of the industry is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 11% and reach USD 1493.07 billion by the year 2025. The big names in the software industry are IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, HP Inc, Dell Technologies, and many more.
Now, let us talk about what are unicorn startups? They are defined as the privately held startup the value of which is more than USD 1 billion. The term Unicorn for the startups was given by Aileen Lee, who is the venture capitalist and the founder of the startup, Cowboy Ventures. The reason for giving the term unicorn was because at that time there were very few startups that had such huge value, so in order to show the rarity of such startups, the term unicorn was given.
The year 2021 proved itself to be great in terms of unicorn startups. We had almost more than 3 unicorn startups every month in that year. Now we are in the year 2022, and this year is also somewhat showing good results till now. We have reached the middle of the month of February and we already have eights startups that have got the status of unicorns. Now we are here to discuss the ninth unicorn startup.
Let us now have a discussion on the funding of a software startup that has taken place recently and has covered a lot of media because this round of funding has led the startup to get converted into a unicorn startup.
Announcement of a new unicorn software startup
The startup, Uniphore Technologies has raised funds worth USD 400 million, as announced on February 16, 2022. This round of funding that had taken place and we are talking about was the Series E round of funding and was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The other participants of this round of funding were March Capital and the existing investors of the startup.
The startup is planning to use the funds raised in extending and expanding the technology of Uniphore Technologies. The startup also has plans to use a portion of the funds raised in securing the market leadership by bringing advancements and changes in voice AI, computer vision, and tontal emotion. The startup is also planning to expand its operations in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The total funds raised by the startup after this round of funding have increased to USD 610 million.
Before this round of funding, the startup had raised USD 140 million. That round of funding was the Series D round of funding and the value of the startup after that round of funding was not disclosed. The value of the startup after the current round of funding has come to USD 2.5 billion. The startup thus has entered the famous and golden unicorn club. The startup has thus become the 9th startup of the year 2022 to earn the status of the Unicorn.
About the newly turned unicorn software startup
The startup, Uniphore Technologies was founded in the year 2008 by Ravi Saraogi and Umesh Sachdev and has its headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu as well as in Palo Alto, California. The startup is engaged in working in conversational automation technology and sells software for conversational analytics, conversational assistants, and conversational security.
The products offered by the startup are as follows-
U-Analyze- It is the speech analytics software of the startup. This product helps the startup in identifying the problems of the customers through the dynamics of the customer and the interactions in the call center using natural language processing.
U-Self Serve- This product is an interactive voice response software and virtual assistant which is focused on assisting in automating customer service for various companies and organizations.
U-Trust- This product is a voice biometrics platform that gives an opportunity to the users to prove their identity using their voice when they are in a remote working location.
U-Assist- This product uses deep learning AI models. This product is engaged in providing support, like transcriptions and alerts, in real-time during calls. This product also offers its service by automating dispositions and other works after a call.
The startup has its offices in the United States, India, Singapore, Japan, Spain, and Israel.
Some of the big lists and achievements where the startup has seen its name are as follows-
In the year 2012, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India recognized the startup as the 17th fastest growing technology company in the country.
In the year 2014, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India recognized the startup as one of the 500 fastest-growing 500 companies in the region of Asia-Pacific.
In the year 2016, the co-founder of the startup, Umesh Sachdev, was included in the list of “10 millennials who are changing the world” for “building a phone that can understand almost any language” by the Time.
In the year 2017, the startup was mentioned in the “League of 10” emerging technology companies by NASSCOM.
In the year 2020, the startup was ranked 7 among small companies in the list of best places to work in the area of San Francisco by the San Francisco Business Times.
The startup offers its services to around 75000 customer service agents in around 160 million transactions every month.
About New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
Founded 45 years ago, in the year 1977, by Richard Kramlich, Chuck Newhall, and Frank Bonsal, New Enterprise Associates is a venture capital firm that has its headquarters in Menlo Park, California and Washington DC. The venture capital firm has its focus on the investment stages ranging from seed stage through the growth stage and across various sectors of the industry. The other offices of the venture capital firm are in Bengaluru, Beijing, Baltimore, Boston, Mumbai, New York City, San Francisco, and Shanghai. The venture capital firm has made investments in around 1000 companies and the assets under management of NEA are worth more than USD 20 billion.
The big names in the portfolio of New Enterprise Associates are Bitglass, Bloom Energy, Uber, UUNET, Vonage, Groupon, Gilt Group, CareerBuilder, GRID, Tableau software, Smartcar, Snap Inc, TiVo, Tempus, Threat Quotient, Workday, ZeroFOX, Zuoyebang, Houzz, Databricks, Duolingo, Global Savings Group, Nicira, Raise Masterplace, Robinhood Markets, and many more.
About March Capital
Founded in the year 2014 in Santa Monica, March Capital is a venture-growth firm that shows the courage and strength to go all-in by mixing intense sector focus, patience, access to a global leadership network, and high impact portfolio engagement to inspire and accelerate extraordinary companies. The venture capital is on the mission to partner with exceptional entrepreneurs and teams in order to build great technology companies and scale them around the world.
The values followed by March Capital are Conviction, Intellectual Rigor, Common Sense, Collaboration, Leadership, and Integrity. March Capital has deep domain expertise in Enterprise, AI, Cyber, Fintech, Data Infrastructure, E-Commerce Enablement, and Gaming. The venture fund has assets under management worth more than USD 1 billion across 4 funds and has its portfolio in more than 30 companies.
The startup is offering something very different to offer. We wish the startup a bit of good luck and wish it is able to achieve heights of success and a bright future ahead!
Edited and published by Ashlyn Joy
