Consumer service provider Akosha gets $5.2 million funding

Leading online consumer service and feedback platform Akosha Tuesday announced securing $5.2 million (Rs.31 crore) venture funding from Sequoia Capital to invest in technology and expand its enterprise solutions.

As a virtual platform, the company enables consumers to share grievances and feedback, resulting in quick resolution of their problems, while brands are able to leverage its software solution (OneDirect) to drive resolution and protect their brand equity by keeping customer complaints off social media.

Many brands also use the company's customer service and feedback metrics to benchmark against competitors.

Founded in 2010 by Ankur Singla with Avinash Vankadaru and Vishal Pal Chaudhary, the New Delhi-based company received about 790,000 customer service issues across sectors, including telecom, consumer appliances, mobile, insurance, banking and e-commerce.

Over 100 leading brands also use the platform, with a dozen of them becoming paying customers.

Voltas, Aircel, Snapdeal, Micromax and Groupon are some of the leading brands using the company's enterprise solutions.

"It is rewarding to see many customers thank us for helping them resolve their service issues. Large enterprises have shown interest in the platform and our ability to benchmark their products and customer service offering," Singla said on the occasion.

As a venture fund, Sequoia takes a long-term view on investments and plays the role of an active, value-added partner to entrepreneurs. Over the past eight years, it invested in 75 companies in India across verticals.

"We are delighted to see the progress and evolution of Akosha's model after making a seed investment in its early stages. Consumer use of the online product has grown 20 times during the last four years with little marketing," Sequoia managing director Shailendra Singh said in the statement.