Sequoia, Tiger Global and Accel inject $26 mn into CleverTap

By TEAM VCC

  • 10 Apr 2019
Credit: 123RF.com

Customer lifecycle management platform CleverTap has raised $26 million (Rs 179.4 crore) in a Series B round of funding led by existing investor Sequoia Capital.

US-based hedge fund and venture-style investment firm Tiger Global Management came in as a new investor in the round while existing VC investor Accel also pumped money into CleverTap, the startup said in a statement.

CleverTap, operated by WizRocket Technologies Pvt. Ltd, said the fresh capital has taken its valuation to more than $150 million.

The company had raised $1.6 million in seed capital from Accel in July 2014 and $8 million from Accel and Sequoia in 2015. It had also raised funding from Japan's Recruit Holdings last year. 

Mohit Bhatnagar, managing director at Sequoia Capital India Advisors, said in the statement that CleverTap is one of the fastest-growing software-as-a-service startups.

Prashanth Prakash, partner at Accel, said CleverTap is using next-generation data-science capabilities to allow companies to automate their marketing decisions. 

The startup said it plans to use the capital to focus on product innovation for enterprises and accelerate its data science-driven product capabilities. 

CleverTap's behavioural and user engagement analytics platform allows businesses to find people, events and behaviour on their websites and apps. It then uses behavioural trends to help improve customer retention and engagement.

CleverTap was founded in 2013 by Sunil Thomas, Anand Jain and Suresh Kondamudi

A University of Washington alumnus, Thomas was earlier chief technology officer at internet solutions firm Infospace Inc. Jain was previously CTO of local search site Burrp.com. He had also worked at Motorola and AT&T Wireless. Kondamudi is an IIT-Madras graduate and had previously worked at Qwest Software and JiGrahak Mobility Solutions.

The company claims to have more than 8,000 customers. It counts firms such as Sony, Zomato, Hotstar and Zilingo among its clients. CleverTap recently opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, and has also expanded its presence in the Americas and Europe. 

CleverTap is one of several SaaS companies that offer customer management platforms to have raised funding over the past year or so. Late last year, for instance, India- and US-based marketing cloud platform MoEngage Inc. raised around Rs 63 crore from Matrix Partners and other investors. User engagement SaaS startup WebEngage raised funding from US-based venture capital firm Social Capital last year.