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Microsoft Picks Stake In Sequoia-backed 24/7 Inc

By TEAM VCC

  • 08 Feb 2012

Technology giant Microsoft Corp has acquired an undisclosed stake in 24/7 Inc (formerly 24/7 Customer) to offer an interactive customer service, the company disclosed in a statement.

Under the deal, Microsoft will merge its interactive self-service assets (clients, people and technologies) into 24/7 Inc and will have an R&D partnership besides long-term IP licensing. With this combination, 24/7 Inc. will be positioned to generate total revenues of more than $250 million annually by delivering solutions and services, Microsoft added.

24/7 was co-founded in 2000 by PV Kannan (who serves as its CEO) and Shanmugam Nagarajan(its chief people officer).

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The company provides contact center solutions and services in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company’s solutions include ServiceNext, SatNext, Salesnext and 24/7 tweetview. It offers products and services for banking, credit cards, insurance, retail, telecom, technology, travel, and hospitality industries. The company is based out of California with delivery centers in the Philippines, India, China, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

The firm had secured $22 million in a funding led by Sequoia in 2003. As a part of the investment, Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital had joined the company’s board. Moritz,who was earlier also served on the board of Google, remains on the company’s board till now. 24/7 also counts veteran venture capitalist Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures as a board member.

 “With this agreement, Microsoft and 24/7 are combining technologies that span interactive self-service across mobile, Web and voice channels, big data analytics, and speech and conversational interfaces to create a next-generation cloud platform for customer service,” Microsoft was quoted as saying on the merger with 24/7.

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"By bringing Microsoft's interactive self-service technology together with 24/7 Inc.'s predictive consumer experience technology into one unified cloud platform, we will deliver solutions and services that truly enable businesses to differentiate through customer service,” PV Kannan, CEO of 24/7 Inc commented on the merger with Microsoft.

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