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Venture Capital News: Talkdesk Raises $15M in Series A

2015-06-09
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Talkdesk, a cloud-based call center software provider growing 10x year-over-year, announced today a $15M Series A financing round.
The round was led by DFJ with participation from existing investor, Storm Ventures. Talkdesk will use the capital to expand its product, design and engineering teams, while growing its marketing and customer support capabilities globally. Talkdesk also announced that Josh Stein, Partner at DFJ, will join Talkdesk's board of directors.

Talkdesk has developed a cloud-based call center software solution that offers an entirely new alternative to a market dominated by decades-old technology-enabling nimble companies to deploy a robust call center software solution in minutes. Talkdesk requires no phones, hardware, coding or downloads and eliminates the high cost, complexity and long implementation times associated with other cloud-based solutions. For call center agents, Talkdesk provides an intuitive web-based interface and integrates with leading CRM applications including Zendesk, Desk.com, Salesforce, Zoho, SugarCRM and Help Scout, delivering instant access to information needed to serve customers efficiently and effectively.

'Today's consumers are used to instant app-driven communications, but most cloud-based call center solutions do not provide the functionality necessary for companies to meet their rising expectations for service. As such, companies are looking for a more progressive call center technology that provides relevant real-time customer information so they can deliver an exceptionally personalized experience,' said Tiago Paiva, Founder and CEO of Talkdesk. 'We developed Talkdesk to address the needs of this $20B market1. We accomplished this by making it simple for companies to deploy a robust cloud-based call center software solution that provides contextual information about their customers, without the complexity or high cost associated with implementation.'

Over the last three years, Talkdesk has seen tremendous growth. The company has increased its revenue 10x year-over-year and is continually adding to its impressive roster of customers including Weather.com, Homejoy, Anki, DoorDash, Whistle and Edmunds.com. With more than 70 employees, Talkdesk recently moved its headquarters to a 14,000 square foot office in San Francisco and has expanded its offices in Lisbon, Portugal and Portland, Oregon. Talkdesk's momentum is fueled by a resurgence in customer-centric call centers - the result of rising consumer expectations for immediate service and a wholesale shift from on-premises applications to the cloud.

'We are seeing a massive evolution in the call center technology space that, until now, has been dominated by antiquated solutions. Talkdesk is strategically positioned to capitalize on this unique opportunity. This is the classic cloud-software eats the world storyline that we have seen before,' said Josh Stein, Partner at DFJ. 'At DFJ, we have backed amazing B2B software success stories such as Box and Yammer and I believe Talkdesk is well on its way to joining this exclusive list.'

'At Anki, we are building lifelong relationships with our customers and, as such, we are fanatical about providing great customer experiences. To this end, we have built one of the best customer service teams in Silicon Valley and equipped them with the most progressive tools,' said Jon Mitchell, Senior Director of Customer Care at Anki. 'When it came to the decision for our call center software, we selected Talkdesk because they offer an enterprise-grade call center solution but with the flexibility, fast implementation cycle and cost savings of a cloud-based application.'

'I met the Talkdesk team about a year ago when they had one employee in the U.S., no office, but an incredible product-market fit. I offered to invest in 15 minutes,' said Jason Lemkin, Managing Director at Storm Ventures. 'Since then, the team has joined the ranks of the fastest growth SaaS companies and achieved true 'hypergrowth' -- growing revenue 10x and their customer base 3x in the past year. I'm in awe of what the team has accomplished. They've hit on a real, huge market need and are dedicated to helping their customers succeed.'

About Talkdesk

Talkdesk is an easy-to-use, cloud-based call center software solution that helps growing businesses improve customer interactions, while simultaneously reducing costs. Unlike other call center software solutions, Talkdesk requires no phones, hardware, coding or downloads - all that is needed is a computer and an Internet connection. With Talkdesk, companies can have a call center up-and-running in minutes and have access to robust call center functionality including IVR, skills-based routing, call conferencing, comprehensive reporting, all in an intuitive web-based interface. Talkdesk integrates with leading CRM systems including Salesforce, Zendesk, Desk.com, Zoho, Shopify, Infusionsoft, Olark to deliver the real-time customer information agents need to improve customer interactions. For more information, visit www.talkdesk.com.
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