Zinier Inc., a field service automation startup, has raised $90 million (about Rs 638.52 crore) in a Series C funding round led by US-based investment management firm ICONIQ Capital.
Tiger Global Management and existing investors Accel, Founders Fund, Nokia-backed NGP Capital, France-based Newfund Capital and Qualcomm Ventures also took part in the funding round, Zinier said in a statement.
This is the second investment by San Francisco-based ICONIQ this month in an India-related company. Earlier, it led a $125 million Series B funding round in HighRadius, a software-as-a-service firm.
The funding comes less than a year after San Mateo-based Zinier raised $22 million in a Series B funding round led by Accel. The round also saw participation from Founders Fund, NGP Capital, Newfund and Qualcomm.
Zinier said it will use the Series C capital to support its global customer adoption and the expansion of its artificial intelligence-based field service automation platform Intelligent Service Automation and Control (ISAC). The company also plans to enter countries such as Australia, Brazil, Chile and France.
According to the company’s website, ISAC uses data points to compare real-time data against historical trends and then recommend optimal courses of action for situations.
“Services that we rely on every day – electricity, transportation, communication – are getting by on centuries-old infrastructure that requires a major upgrade for the next generation of users,” company co-founder and CEO Arka Dhar said. “Our team is focused on enabling this transformation across industries through intelligent field service automation.”
ICONIQ Capital founding partner Will Griffith said Zinier’s technological platform would be able to disrupt field servicing deliveries across markets and industries.
The startup was founded in 2015. It uses AI to help organisations work efficiently. Zinier automates management of the organisation’s operations, from the back office all the way to the field.
AI startups in vogue
AI startups have seen a massive surge of investor interest and funding in the last few years, as companies and clients across sectors seek to address pain points in their operations. Startups are also using to open up new products, service categories, and entire sectors.
Last month, Observe.ai, an artificial intelligence-based startup that focusses on voice conversations for customer service, raised $26 million from a clutch of investors, including California-based venture capital firm Scale Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, 01 Advisors and Emergent Ventures.
In November, Cogniphi Technologies Pvt. Ltd, an artificial intelligence-based cognitive tech startup, raised an undisclosed sum in a strategic investment from UST Global Inc. In August, H2O.ai Inc., an artificial intelligence startup whose algorithms are used by firms to predict fraud, customer churn, and more, said it raised $72.5 million in a Series D funding round led by the New York-based Goldman Sachs.
