Uniphore, a US- and India-based speech recognition technology developer, has raised $140m in its series D round from a consortium including Cisco Investments, the corporate venturing and acquisitions group of US-listed network equipment supplier Cisco.
Venture capital fund Sorenson Capital Partners led the round, which also included additional new investors Serena Capital and Sanabil Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s state Public Investment Fund, as well as Cisco.
Prior investors, National Grid Partners, corporate venturing unit of UK-listed energy group National Grid, Sistema Capital, an investment subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Sistema, and VC firms March Capital Partners, Chiratae Ventures, and Iron Pillar Fund, also participated.
Uniphore said the money would develop its artificial intelligence services, such as video-based AI applications stemming from its acquisition of Emotion Research Labs earlier this year.
Founded in 2008, Uniphore has built software that helps businesses improve the performance of their customer support staff. It relies on artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies to power voice-based services such as conversational analytics, a virtual assistant and voice authentication.
In total, Uniphore has raised $210m it said.
In August 2019, Uniphore received $51m in a series C round backed by Sistema Asia Fund, an investment subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Sistema.
Investment firm March Capital Partners led the round, which also included Chiratae Ventures, the venture capital firm formerly known as IDG Ventures India, as well as CXO Fund, ITP, Iron Pillar, the Patni Family and unnamed additional investors.
Uniphore received an undisclosed amount in a 2017 series B round led by John Chambers, a former chairman of networking equipment manufacturer Cisco, and backed by IDG Ventures India, financial services firm IIFL and JC2 Ventures, which acquired a 10% stake through the deal, the company said this week.
IDG Ventures India led a $2m bridge round for the company in 2016, with contributions from Indian Angel Network and YourNest Angel Fund, having already supplied an undisclosed amount of capital in 2015. YourNest and assorted angel investors had provided Uniphore’s earlier funding.
