Lyceum Technologies Inc., which operates the video-based customer experience platform Hippo Video, has raised $4.5 million (Rs 33 crore) in a Series A funding round.
Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) and Exfinity Venture Partners led the funding round, the startup said in a statement.
AWI is a $300 million venture fund managed by Falcon Edge Capital and backed by ADQ, one of the largest regional holding companies based in Abu Dhabi. AWI says it provides founders with early-stage capital, as well as several support systems for building the business, including through helping them expand globally.
Exfinity is a frontier-technology fund that backs business-to-business (B2B) companies in India and across the India-United States business corridor.
Other participants in the round in the US- and Chennai-based Hippo Video include existing investors KAE Capital and Surge, the accelerator programme of Sequoia Capital India.
Hippo Video was founded in 2016 by former Zoho Corporation executives Karthi Mariappan, Nilamchand Jain and Srinivasan Krishnan. The company helps create, deliver and measure the metrics for personalised videos.
It also offers features such as online editing and enterprise-grade security, and says it has delivered strong returns for customers, including through a 66% increase in qualified lead generation.
Hippo Video will use the funds to grow several of its teams, including its engineering, product management and data science divisions. It will also expand to Abu Dhabi and use the emirate as a base for international expansion, especially in the Middle Eastern markets.
“Hippo Video has and continues to demonstrate outstanding strong organic traction, customer retention, and like-for-like ACV (average contract value) growth,” Falcon Edge co-founder and partner Navroz D Udwadia said.
In January 2018, Hippo Video raised an undisclosed sum in a pre-Series A funding round led by KAE Capital, with participation from Freshworks founder and chief executive Girish Mathrubootham.