TongsA start -up of business messages that began its trip to India two decades ago and became unicorn four years ago, has gathered a new round of $ 60 million – but maintains its new evaluation.
In 2021, Gupshup increased two rounds of funding within four months, securing $ 340 million from prominent investors, including Tiger Global, Fidelity Management, Investments and Malabar Investments. These rounds – the first start in about a decade – estimated Gupshup at $ 1.4 billion. However, Fidelity, which drove the round after Unicorn’s milestone, destroyed the internal assessment of the start at least three times between 2023 and 2024, bringing it up to $ 486 million.
The new round of funding, which combines the financing of shares and debt from Globespan Capital and Evolutionx Debt Capital, aims to help start with San Francisco to expand its presence in high -growth markets, such as India, the Middle East, the Middle East.
The start will not reveal the exact part of the debt, although Beerudh’s founder and chief executive told TechCrunch that the shares is “just more than half”.
In 2004, Gupshup – derived from Indian slang meaning “conversations” – started as a platform to help businesses connect with their customers through text messages. It received popularity, as text messages were not free and people were looking for ways to send messages to their friends and community groups. However, as communication was shifted by the Short Message Service (SMS) to WhatsApp and Rich Communication Services (RCS) services, the start was transferred to these avenues with Chatbot services. Now, as AI has become a Catchall term and AI agents – software that can perform specific tasks on behalf of users – have emerged everywhere, Gupshup has begun to allow businesses to develop agents.
“There is a high demand coming from businesses. Everyone must build these AI agents who work through messages such as RCS and WhatsApp or by voice.
At the global level, AI agents are attracted, with newly established businesses making them a strong interest in investors. Technological giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft also explore how to bring more of these agents to users through their own platforms. The result: Competition is heated.
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Gupshup does not see increasing competition as a threat. Sheth pointed to the significant basis for the starting installation – which exceeds 50,000 customers in more than 100 countries – and the history of product innovation, led by years of experience in business messages, strategic acquisitions and internal R&D.
“Businesses cannot simply use the foundation models from the shelf and simply put them in front of customers. They need a lot of adjustment to make and there comes the Gupshup. This is what we provide,” he noted.
Since its last round in July 2021, the start of “triple” its revenue and increased its profitability, Seth said. However, it is not clear if this led to an increased valuation, as he said, this last round had no prices.
“As a founder, you focus on value and the valuation will follow,” Sheth said when asked if he still considers the start of a unicorn. “We operate ourselves as if we were a big company.”
Along with the extension geographically, the start aims to use its new funding to strengthen its products, which are used in industries such as automotive, banking, e -commerce, fintech, media, payments, retail and travel. Its products also include click ads-Chat, Copilot Copilot, Agent Adager and Manager Campaign.
Gupshup claims to dominate more than 120 billion messages annually for thousands of businesses. Looking forward, starting sees an ipo as the next big milestone.
“We are talking to all advisers, lawyers, bankers, accountants and so on, to understand it,” Sheth said.
The start has no specific timetable for its public list, though Sheth told TechCrunch that it could happen in 18 to 24 months.
Gupshup is investigating whether it should record Indian stock markets – a move that makes strategic logic, as the start sees India, where Whatsapp dominates, as a more favorable market. Between the reasons: It is easier to let her history announce to local retail investors, who are more familiar with WhatsApp and understand how Gupshup products, including AI agents, work on the platform. However, since Gupshup is inhabited in the US, a flip in India would cause tax liabilities that could require additional funding.
IPO “is the only thing we do not control entirely. The calendar depends on both external factors and the company,” Sheth said.
