Cisco Investments, a corporate venturing vehicle for networking technology producer Cisco, has invested in US-based customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Kustomer as part of a $35m series C round.
Venture capital firm Battery Ventures led the round, which included Canaan Partners, Boldstart Ventures and Social Leverage. Neeraj Agrawal, a general partner at Battery Ventures, will join the company’s board of directors in conjunction with the funding.
Kustomer has built a platform that enables businesses to communicate with their customers through web, text messages, voice calls and email as well as social media platforms such as Facebook Messenger and Twitter.
The software also collates customer data to help customer service agents respond to requests. The capital will help Kustomer expand internationally and fund the launch of new products.
The company raised $26m in a series B round led by Redpoint in June 2018 that also featured Cisco Investments, Battery Ventures, Canaan Partners, Boldstart Ventures and Social Leverage.
Boldstart and Social Leverage had co-led a $2.5m seed round for the company that was disclosed when it emerged from stealth in 2016 alongside a $10m series A led by Canaan Partners that included Boldstart and Social Leverage.
Kustomer CEO Brad Birnbaum said: “From early on, leading brands in the [business-to-consumer] and [direct-to-consumer] segments were attracted to Kustomer because we provide a next-generation alternative to outdated technologies and a solution to an endless queue of tickets that’s weighing companies down and frustrating their agents and customers.
“Kustomer’s first-of-its-kind data model and one, single timeline view of customer interactions and events have differentiated us from legacy solutions and are the basis for our 500% year-over-year growth.”