Cisco Investments, the corporate venturing arm of networking equipment maker Cisco, has invested $2m in US-based customer support platform developer Helpshift to boost its series C round to $25m.
Helpshift provides a customer support platform for businesses that allows them to engage with customers through an app. It features in-app FAQ’s and chat, as well as a customer relationship management ticketing system and in-app surveys.
In addition to investing in the company, Cisco will integrate its in-app customer service technology with its own contact centre offering.
Helpshift had initially closed $23m in series B funding from investors including Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Intel Capital, respective subsidiaries of software producer Microsoft, cloud computing company Salesforce.com and chipmaker Intel, in June this year.
The first tranche also included Nexus Venture Partners, True Ventures and Visionnaire Ventures, and followed a $10m series A round in mid-2014 that was led by Intel Capital and backed by Visionnaire Ventures, True Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners.
Helpshift, which received $3.2m in a Nexus and True Ventures-backed seed round in 2012, has now raised just over $38m altogether.
Rob Salvagno, head of Cisco Investments, said: “We continue to invest in strategic solutions to help propel technology developments that will solve challenges for our customers, partners, and beyond.
“Through our investment, we look forward to supporting Helpshift to enable companies to provide best-in-class mobile customer care through their data-centric messaging platform.”