SmartKarrot Inc., a customer and product insights-oriented software-as-a-service provider, has raised $1 million (Rs 7.12 crore at current exchange rates) in an angel funding round.
The Texas-headquartered company raised the capital from a clutch of high-net-worth individuals and promoters, it said in a statement. It didn’t disclose their identities.
SmartKarrot’s platform tracks customers’ real-time digital behaviour so that clients can take strategic and personalised actions to drive a product’s profitability level.
The company will use the money to enhance its technological infrastructure as well as grow its research, development and market acquisition operations in India. The startup also has a presence in Singapore and Canada’s Toronto.
Company co-founder and chief executive officer Prithwi Dasgupta said businesses needed to drive recurring revenue retention and improve product adoption to stay competitive. “SmartKarrot not only minimizes the challenge of having to deal with multiple systems, but it also enhances the customer experience exponentially,” he added.
The startup was founded by Dasgupta and Arnab Chatterjee last year. Both are alumni of the National Institute of Technology, Calicut. Chatterjee had previously co-founded US-based health-tech company eMids Technologies Inc. Dasgupta had also worked eMids in a senior position.
SmartKarrot says its platform tracks several customer metrics such as their revenue generation and product usage before engaging them through several channels, including emails, mobile messages, push notifications and in-app surveys. Data gleaned from these and other insights can be used by clients to help with on-boarding, product adoption and product roadmap planning.
Funding for SaaS startups
The exponential rise in the valuations of SaaS startups such as Freshworks and Icertis has given investors the confidence to place more bets on the fast-growing sector. Companies in the space seek to automate processes and drive profitable efficiencies through the application of proprietary platforms based on technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analysis.
Earlier this week, consumer packaged goods-focussed platform Samya.ai raised $6 million in a seed funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. Helion Venture Partners founder Ashish Gupta, G100 Companies partner Deb Henretta and Kradle Ventures founder Arijit Sengupta also invested in Samya.ai.
Earlier this month, customer experience-focussed SaaS startup Seekify Technologies Pvt. Ltd. raised $1.5 million from Sequoia India’s scale-up programme Surge and angel investors such as Avatar Venture Partners founding partner Nishant Rao and 1mg co-founder Gaurav Agarwal.
Another company, marketing intelligence startup Slintel Inc., raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Bengaluru-based Stellaris Venture Partners.