LeadSquared, a SaaS startup that helps sales teams become more efficient with its CRM platform, is the latest Indian startup to turn into a unicorn.
LeadSquared said Tuesday it has raised $153 million in a Series C financing round that valued it at $1 billion (post-money). The round was led by WestBridge Capital, the 11-year-old startup said. Existing backers, including Gaja Capital, also participated in the new funding, bringing the startup’s total revenue to $188 million.
The startup helps companies automate sales and bring efficiencies to all touchpoints where sales executives are involved, including call centers, foot-on-street force and other areas, including digital where consumer purchases take place. The startup provides the companies with tools to easily onboard suppliers, perform verifications and collections.
LeadSquared says its CRM platform “takes the guesswork out of sales execution,” no matter how complex the customer journey.
The startup, which employs about 1,200 people, currently generates 90% of its revenue in its home market of India, Nilesh Patel, co-founder and chief executive of LeadSquared, said in an interview with TechCrunch. In the financial year ending in March this year, the startup doubled its revenue to about $25.6 million, he said.
“LeadSquared has demonstrated a remarkable ability to scale and grow efficiently. Key SaaS metrics are unique and best-in-class in the industry,” Sumir Chadha, co-founder and director of WestBridge Capital, said in a statement.
“The focus on building an easy-to-use platform that transforms sales processes through automation and delivers unparalleled efficiency has significant growth potential in the global market. The future of LeadSquared is very exciting for us and we look forward to a long partnership with the company.”
LeadSquared has gathered more than 2,000 clients across many industries, including Pearson, Stanford University, Byju’s, Dunzo, Kotak Securities, Amazon Pay, Olx, and Uni. The startup plans to use the new funds to expand its international operations in North America, the APAC region and EMEA.
“We are grateful for the support of our investors as we strive to build LeadSquared into a globally significant company. With this funding, we will double our growth investments in India and North America, begin building in APAC and EMEA, add new offerings to our product portfolio and fund acquisitions. To support our growth, we plan to double our workforce over the next 18 months,” said Patel.
The startup is also looking to expand its product with new features, including sales performance analytics and a suite of tools to digitize application processing. “Our story is vertical applications. Our product is not a CRM-to-CRM comparison. So as we move into a new industry, there are certain adjacent areas that are relevant, but don’t necessarily fall into the classic sales marketing lens, so those are opportunities for us,” he said.
More to follow…