Sales productivity startup Vymo Inc. has raised $18 million in a Series B round led by Emergence Capital, a US-based venture capital fund, and existing investor Sequoia Capital India, the company said on Wednesday.
Emergence is a software and cloud-focused fund which has a portfolio comprising some of the largest software-as-a-service startups (SaaS), such as Zoom Video.
“Series B funding will be primarily used to expand our business in the US, Japan and Asia Pacific regions. We will also consolidate our growth and leadership position in the CRM (customer relationship management)/SFA (sales force automation) market in India,” said Yamini Bhat, chief executive, Vymo, in an email.
Founded in 2013 by Bhat, the Bengaluru-based company had raised a $5 million Series A round from Sequoia India in 2015.
Vymo plans to use the funds to explore newer business opportunities such as financial services, and to recruit more people. “The focus is to add depth to our current use cases/explore newer ones in financial services and related markets and be as relevant to our customers as possible. The team is growing rapidly, and we’re adding more talent across the world. We are close to 150 people across seven countries right now,” Bhat added.
Vymo’s fundraise comes at a time when a number of SaaS startups in India, often with a dual base in the US, have begun achieving significant scale and attracting strong investor interest. The last few months alone have seen two Indian unicorns (firms valued at over $1 billion) emerge from the sector.
Earlier this month, Icertis, a contract management software platform raised $115 million led by US’s venture capital firm Greycroft and Premji Invest, the family investment office of billionaire Azim Premji. Druva Inc., which offers cloud data protection and management, raised $130 million in a new round led by Viking Global Investors last month.
“SaaS business is driven by growth compounds (recurring revenue) and has massive economies of scale. Aside, disruption through cloud, mobile and AI technologies have enabled startups to impact businesses in ways that were not possible earlier,” Bhat said.
Global investors such as Tiger Global Management have also aggressively invested in this space. Mint had reported on 19 May that Tiger has invested in 10 Indian startups in the software and B2B space this year.
Source: Mint