Akosha raises Rs.100cr in Series B funding from Sequoia

BANGALORE, INDIA: Akosha, a messaging platform for all consumer-to-business interactions, has announced that Sequoia is leading a new Rs.100 crore Series B round.

This new round of financing will be used to hire over 200 software engineers and product managers to build out the platform, and fund the growth of Akosha’s new mobile app for connecting users and businesses.

Brands are able to leverage Akosha’s software to have a fast and personalized interactions with their consumers. Over 130 large brands use Akosha’s OneDirect platform to respond to consumer inquiries every week. Around 30 of these enterprises have become paying customers who subscribe to a premium version of the OneDirect Enterprise Suite. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Voltas, Aircel, Snapdeal, Micromax and Makemytrip are some of the leading brands currently using Akosha OneDirect enterprise solutions.

Consumers use the Akosha app for product discovery, pricing information, discounts, customer service, booking appointments, travel research and so on. Over the last year, the company has grown its employee base from 180 to well over 300 and recently opened a technology and product office in Bangalore.

Ankur Singla, chief executive officer, Akosha, “We started 4 years ago to help consumers with post purchase issues. With the growth of mobile, we aim at building a messaging platform for all interactions between consumers and businesses including discovery, buying, appointments and customer service. We hope to be doing 100,000 customer interactions/day within 3 months. But I think we’re just getting started. We are confident that in the near future, Akosha chat will be a competitive customer service differentiator for businesses”.

On the B2B side, Akosha OneDirect is a social CRM platform that helps brands in managing their customer experience across all online channels.