- Talkdesk, a cloud contact center for enterprises, announced that it raised $143 million in Series C funding at a valuation of over $3 billion
Talkdesk, a cloud contact center for enterprises, announced that it raised $143 million in Series C funding from a combination of new and existing investors. This amount raised — which was at a valuation of over $3 billion — reflects both investor confidence in Talkdesk’s business and the strategic role that customer experience plays among top global brands.
The new investors that participated in this round of funding include Franklin Templeton, Willoughby Capital, Skip Capital, Lead Edge Capital, and Top Tier Capital Partners along with existing partners Viking Global Investors and Threshold Ventures. So far, Talkdesk has raised $268 million over its funding rounds — which strengthens its leadership position in the Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) marketplace and solidifies the role of customer experience as a strategic differentiator for enterprises.
This round of funding also follows a year of continued global growth, product development, and market leadership for Talkdesk. And over the past year, Talkdesk has introduced over 600 product innovations to the market such as Talkdesk 20-in-20 (a release program to lead the contact center industry by starting 2020 with 20 product introductions in the first 20 weeks). And Talkdesk’s culture of innovation led to 200 patent submissions in 100 days and continues to push customer service ahead with industry advancements like CXTalent and multiple awards.
This round of funding also allows Talkdesk to capitalize on its current momentum and continue its global growth. And the company plans to increase research and development spending and to invest in go-to-market, sales, marketing and channel development as Talkdesk continues to expand up-market.
As companies have historically made significant investments in their contact centers as a means of differentiation through customer support, COVID-19 has served as a catalyst for accelerated investment in cloud-based solutions. And as many consumer-facing brands have effectively lost their primary retail channel, making the need to provide world-class support a strategic imperative. So many enterprises have been moving operations to a completely remote setting for the first time. And Talkdesk’s cloud-native solutions helps agents deliver an exceptional customer experience regardless of their locations.
The Talkdesk team consists of the world’s top authorities in the area of CCaaS and customer experience. And the organization is a strategic and reliable provider to its customer base of over 1,800 innovative customers in 75 countries such as IBM, Acxiom, 2U, Trivago and Peloton.
KEY QUOTES:
“The importance of providing an unparalleled customer experience has never been greater and this latest funding is a reflection of the criticality of this aspect as brands look for avenues for growth in our current environment. We are incredibly appreciative of the support and confidence of our investors, customers and partners who continue to endorse our vision of providing the industry’s most innovative and flexible solutions for the modern contact center. Lastly, I want to share my immense gratitude for the dedication and expertise of our employees who enable us to deliver for our customers, even during the most challenging times.”
— Tiago Paiva, chief executive officer of Talkdesk
“The global pandemic has fueled the importance of customer experience for business continuity. Talkdesk provides an innovative CX platform and solutions to help every organization provide the best possible and amazing customer experience. Our recognition of Talkdesk to receive the Ventana Research Digital Innovation Award in CX for 2020 is yet another example of the investment in innovation. The growth and funding is testament to the confidence and trust in the brand by customers and partners who have committed to Talkdesk.”
— Mark Smith, chief executive officer and chief research officer, Ventana Research
“We are excited to join Talkdesk in its journey to reimagine a critical element of business to consumer communications infrastructure, as businesses seek to enhance their relationships with customers with next generation digital engagement tools. Talkdesk’s market potential is large, and its business model is promising.”
— Jonathan Curtis, vice president, research analyst and portfolio manager with Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Equity Group.
“We have been incredibly impressed by Talkdesk and the remarkable growth and scale the company has achieved over the last few years. The company’s solutions are mission-critical across a range of industries during these challenging times. We are excited to support Tiago and the team through the next stage of the company’s evolution.”
— Morgan Rutman, president at Willoughby Capital
“With a best-in-class product, Talkdesk’s rapid growth in the enterprise contact center segment is extremely impressive. We are excited about accelerating cloud adoption, and as businesses of all sizes look for tools to help with a shift to remote work, Talkdesk’s product suite is highly compelling. We are thrilled to join the Talkdesk team on their journey.”
— Kim Jackson, founder of Skip Capital
“Talkdesk is a step above the outdated, legacy contact center systems and has quickly established itself as the vendor-of-choice. We’re excited to partner with the company as its suite of products reaches an even greater scale. Talkdesk is experiencing explosive adoption of its technology, and it is no surprise given the pain points its solving for companies, large and small.”
— Mitchell Green, managing partner of Lead Edge Capital
“Talkdesk is leveraging software and innovation to disrupt the traditional call center. The company has emerged as a clear leader in the CCaaS sector and Top Tier Capital Partners is excited to support Talkdesk’s continued growth.”
— Garth Timoll, managing director of Top Tier Capital Partners
“Threshold Ventures partners with exceptional entrepreneurs who have a vision for transformative, market-changing solutions. Tiago and the Talkdesk team are innovatively pushing CCaaS applications to a new level. Since leading their Series A financing, we’ve had a front row seat to watch Talkdesk emerge as an undisputed leader in the large CCaaS market.”
— Josh Stein, partner at Threshold Ventures
