【印度】客户服务联络中心解决方案提供商Ameyo获得500万美元A轮融资
导语：这家总部位于印度班加罗尔的公司这笔融资拓展美国市场业务，并开发新产品。
Ameyo, 是一家总部位于印度班加罗尔的公司，他们提供多渠道客户服务和联络中心解决方案。近日，该公司宣布获得500万美元A轮融资，投资方是一家名叫Forum Synergies的私募公司。
该公司将使用该笔融资扩展美国市场业务，同时在联络中心和销售加速技术领域内开发新产品。
Drishti是Ameyo的母公司，随着这笔融资的完成，Forum Synergies私募公司联合创始人、兼首席执行官、总经理Samir Inamdar将会加入到Drishti公司董事会。
“呼叫联络中心正在进行快速转型，它不仅对企业核心业务营销巨大，同时也在向云端发展。如今，全世界的呼叫中心市场价值已经超过了30亿。电话销售团队和内部销售团队都在采用全新的销售加速技术，该领域预计规模可达到120亿美元，而且增长速度惊人。Ameyo公司获得的这笔投资，就是希望能够在这些市场领域里能够挖掘更多机会，”Bishal Kumar说道，他是Drishti公司首席执行官。
Drishti公司成立于2003年，创始人包括Bishal Kumar, Sachin Bhatia，以及Nayan Jain，他们都是印度理工大学古瓦哈蒂分校的同学。依靠其子公司Ameyo，Drishti公司为全球超过四十个国家的1500多名客户提供服务，这些客户中不乏业界巨头，比如 Ola Cabs, Jabong, Bankbazaar, TinyOwl, Mphasis, WNS, 约旦Ahli银行, 以及美国大通银行。
此外，该公司开发的TexoCC呼叫服务产品，该产品主要定位中等规模的呼叫联络中心和内部销售团队。
Contact centre solutions firm Ameyo grabs US$5M Series A
Ameyo, a Bangalore-based company providing omnichannel customer and contact centre solutions, has raised around US$5 million in Series A funding from city-based private equity firm, Forum Synergies.
The funds will be used to expand to the US, as well as to add new products in the contact centre and sales acceleration technology space.
As part of the funding, Samir Inamdar, Co-founder, MD and CEO of Forum Synergies, will join the Board of Drishti, parent of Ameyo.
“Contact Centres are undergoing rapid transformation both in terms of impact to the core business and movement to cloud. This represents a US$3 billion global opportunity. Telesales and inside sales teams are adapting sales acceleration technology which is a US$12 billion opportunity and growing very fast. This fresh funding will catalyse our larger participation in both of these fantastic market opportunities,” said Bishal Kumar, CEO of Drishti.
Drishti was founded in 2003 by Bishal Kumar, Sachin Bhatia and Nayan Jain — all classmates from IIT Guwahati. With Ameyo, Drishti serves over 1,500 customers in over 40 countries, including Ola Cabs, Jabong, Bankbazaar, TinyOwl, Mphasis, WNS, Jordan Ahli Bank, and Chase Bank.
The firm also offers TexoCC targetting mid-sized contact centres and inside sales teams.
来源：e27
客户服务
2015年07月14日
客户服务
社交客户服务公司Sparkcentral完成1200万美元B轮融资
社交客户服务公司 Sparkcentral 已完成 B 轮融资，募集资金 1200 万美元，此轮融资由 Split RockPartners 领投。Sparkcentral 向企业提供一系列工具，帮助他们经由社交渠道对客户提供支持。
在此之前，Sparkcentral 已经募集资金 560 万美元 ，其中包括在 2013 年 10 月份完成的 450 万美元 A 轮融资。鉴于上一轮融资是在 15 个月前完成的，Sparkcentral 的 B 轮融资也处于正常的融资周期内。
我向 Sparkcentral 提了一个问题，即为何决定在 B 轮融资中募集资金 1200 万美元，因为在当前资本环境下，这一融资额只能算适中，即便参照以往的标准衡量。Sparkcentral 首席执行官达维·克斯滕斯（Davy Kestens）对此表示，1200 万美元融资额“符合公司增长曲线，”也是基于 Sparkcentral 在扩充团队规模和功能集时所需要的资金做出的一个决定。
同科技行业其他没有进入“死亡漩涡”（death spiral）的公司一样，Sparkcentral 也正在招募人才。该公司预计 2015 年员工数量将从现在的 30 人增至 60 人。Sparkcentral 的业务目前在美国和比利时两地同时展开。
Sparkcentral 究竟是做什么业务的？为此，我采访了 Sparkcentral 联合创始人马特·芬尼兰（Matt Finneran），他表示 Sparkcentral 曾经是一家专注于客户服务的社交媒体公司，现在则将自己定位于一家专注社交媒体的客户服务公司。在芬尼兰看来，Sparkcentral 不同于社交媒体管理领域的其他公司，比如总部设在芝加哥的 SproutSocial，因为它的业务重点并不在市场营销方面。
我本希望 Sparkcentral 能提供一下详细的最新财务数据，但该公司只是给出了比较数据，而非绝对数据。这样一来，我们只能对 Sparkcentral 最近的财务状况有个大概的了解。据 Sparkcentral 介绍，该公司 2014 年营收比 2013 年增长 320%。同期，Sparkcentral 客户数量增长了 100%。这两项数据表明，Sparkcentral 的客户数量日渐增多，而当前客户的合同价值也不断增长。
我又提到了有关财务的话题，让 Sparkcentral 谈一谈它如何实现增长和开支的平衡—— Box 对未来的收入增长进行了大规模投资 ，而不是将如何扭转短期亏损放在第一位，这种策略曾在 公开市场引发疑虑 。克斯滕斯表示，重要的是拥有“增长路线图”，但不从“悬崖上猛地掉下来”同样关键。
Sparkcentral 之所以不同于其他软件即服务（SaaS）公司，原因是由于有些客户属于 Delta 这样的大公司，月度经常性收入（MRR）与年度经常性收入（ARR）之比可能超出了正常标准范围——换句话说，我估计 Delta 不是按月向 Sparkcentral 支付购买软件的费用。克斯滕斯表示，鉴于此，该公司在追踪自家财务表现时更注重季度数据，也就不足为奇了。
在一个拥挤但增长迅速的科技细分市场，Sparkcentral 取得了飞速发展。该公司拥有实现发展计划所需要的资金，现在的问题是这些计划能否得到执行。我会在未来几个季度继续关注这家公司，看一看能否弄到最新的营收数据。
Social Customer Service Firm Sparkcentral Locks Up A $12M Series B
Sparkcentral, a company that provides tools to help businesses conduct customer support over social channels, has raised a $12 million Series B round of funding, led by Split Rock Partners.
The company previously raised a total of $5.6 million, including a $4.5 million Series A round of capital in October of 2013, or around 15 months ago. That places the company’s Series B round inside of a normal raising schedule.
I asked Sparkcentral why it decided to raise $12 million for its Series B — in the current capital climate, the sum is slightly modest, even if standard by historical norms. The company’s CEO Davy Kestens indicated that the sum “fit [the company’s] growth curve,” and was predicated on how much money Sparkcentral would need to expand both its staff, and feature set.
Like quite literally every company in technology that isn’t entering some sort of deathspiral, Sparkcentral is hiring. The firm, which splits its operation between the United States and Belgium, expects to double its current 30 person employee base in 2015.
So, what is Sparkcentral? I spoke to its co-founder Matt Finneran, who indicated that the company was once a social media company focusing on customer service, but now thinks of itself as a customer service firm that focuses on social media. In the view of Finneran, Sparkcentral is different from other players in the social media management space because it does not have a marketing focus, like the Chicago-based Sprout Social.
I asked the company to detail is recent financial performance, and it responded with comparative, and not absolute data. That weakens the dataset. Still, according to Sparkcentral, its revenue grew 320 percent in 2014, when compared to the year prior. During that same period, its customer based expanded 100 percent. Those two figures imply that the company is landing increasingly large clients, that it is seeing increasing contract value among current customers, or some combination of the two.
Continuing the financial theme, I asked the company how it weighed a balance between growth, and spend — Box famously invested heavily in future revenues, only to see its short-term losses spook the public markets. Kestens indicated that it is important to have a “roadmap for growth,” but that it is also critical to not “drive off a cliff” at full clip.
Sparkcentral is different from other SaaS companies in that, given that some of its clients are large firms like Delta, its ratio of monthly recurring revenue to annual recurring revenue (MRR v. ARR) is likely outside of the norms — I presume that Delta isn’t paying for much software on a monthly basis, in other words. Kestens said that his firm is, given that, unsurprisingly more focused on quarterly data when it comes to tracking its own performance.
SparkCentral has grown quickly inside of an expanding, if crowded technology market category. It has the capital to pull off its plans, so now the question is execution. I’ll check in with the firm in a few quarters, and see if I can scare up some new revenue numbers.
IMAGE BY FLICKR USER DANIEL DIONNE. UNDER CC BY 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN CROPPED)
来源：techcrunch
客户服务
客户服务
客户服务
客户服务
客户服务
扫一扫 加微信
hrtechchina
