WestBridge Capital, others leads $23M round in AI startup Skit

AI-based voice startup Skit, which was previously Vernacular.ai, today announced it has raised $23 million as part of its Series B funding led by WestBridge Capital.

The round also saw the participation of Kalaari Capital and Exfinity Ventures along with an Angelist syndicate led by Aaryaman Vir Shah from Prophetic Ventures, and LetsVenture syndicate led by Sense AI.

According to the firm, the funds will be used for sales and marketing, as well as developing delivery capabilities and R&D to accelerate innovation and improve the company's goods as it expands abroad.

"This investment comes when we are making strategic inroads into the US and SouthEast Asian markets. Clients and investors alike have recognized the uniqueness and superiority of our product and continue to show confidence in our growth path,” says Sourabh Gupta, CEO & co-founder of Skit. The global contact center market size is expected to grow steadily and reach a value of $496 billion by 2027.

“To address this sizeable growth, we at Skit are using voice bot innovation and our market observations to personalize caller experiences at customer contact centers, and deliver upto 50 percent cost reduction and superior customer experience," added Gupta.

The funding comes after the company announced a Series A investment in May 2020, led by Exfinity Ventures and Kalaari Capital, AngelList, with participation from IAN Fund and LetsVenture. This Series B fundraising takes the total amount raised by the company to USD 30 million. In both the Indian and worldwide sectors, the corporation intends to double down and scale operations.

“Skit's success in helping India's largest companies positions them well to enter the US market, where there is a massive need for voice AI solutions," says Sashi Reddi, venture advisor to Westbridge Capital.

In 2016, Sourabh Gupta and Akshay Deshraj founded the AI-first SaaS speech automation startup Vernacular Intelligent Voice Assistant, which offers an automation product (VIVA).

Its product (VIVA) can now react in over 16 languages, covering over 160 dialects and mimicking human-like conversations, thanks to over 10 million hours of training data. It caters to business clients in banking and financial services, such as insurance, securities, and non-bank financial companies (NBFCs), food and beverage, e-commerce, automotive, and travel and tourism. Axis Bank, Hathway, Porter, and Barbeque Nation are among its clientele.

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