Cisco arm picks stake in CRM platform Helpshift

Helpshift got funding from Cisco Investments as part of Series B round

Networking major Cisco has picked a minority stake in Helpshift, getting it access to the Pune-based company's smartphone based CRM tool it plans to integrate in the solutions it sells to contact centres.

Cisco's investment through its funding arm is an extension of the $23 million Series B funds raised by Helpshift in June, from investors such as Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. The firm did not disclose Cisco's investment numbers nor how it would monetise Cisco using the solution on its platform.

Helpshift allows customers such as Zynga, Microsoft and Western Union to use its content management system designed for the smartphone app to have pre-filled answers for queries from customers. The underlying software throws up responses for queries like in a chat conversation in the smartphone, which the company says allows better engagement with customers for its clients.

"Apps have become the primary way in which consumers and employees in the enterprise are accessing products and services," said Abinash Tripathy, chief executive officer and co-founder, Helpshift in a statement. "Just like customer service moved away from phone (voice) to email in the era of the web, we are now seeing a transition where customer service is moving inside apps to eliminate all the friction in the process of supporting users. With the additional funding from Cisco Investments, we are looking to help the entire contact center industry transition from being reactive to proactive while driving higher customer satisfaction and lowering cost."

Helpshift counts companies such as Zynga, Virgin Media, Microsoft, Western Union, Flipboard, Shyp, WordPress, and thousands of other industry-leading brands, startups, and developers use the Helpshift platform to provide in-app support. The company has raised more than $38.2 million and is backed by Cisco Investments, Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, True Ventures, and Visionnaire Ventures.

"Through our investment, we look forward to supporting Helpshift to enable companies to provide best in-class mobile customer care through their data-centric messaging platform," said Rob Salvagno, head of Cisco Investments and vice-president of Cisco Corporate Development.