Talkdesk Raises $100 Million to Make Customer Service Less Terrible
Using cloud technology and machine learning, the startup is said to hit a more than $1 billion valuation.
Most people dread calling customer service. The endless wait times, tedium of repeating your information multiple times and the dead-end solutions have long been a national punchline. So it’s little wonder that a growing slate of companies are using tools like machine learning and cloud computing to try to make those services smarter.
One of those companies is Talkdesk Inc., which announced on Wednesday it had raised $100 million in a funding round led by Connecticut-based hedge fund Viking Global Investors LP, and which included venture capital firm DFJ. The round boosted the software maker’s valuation above the $1 billion unicorn threshold, said Chief Executive Officer Tiago Paiva, but he declined to specify the exact number. Prior to this announcement, the company’s largest funding round had been $21 million in 2015 for its Series A.