Genesys, a major provider of CX management and call center software, successfully raised $580 million in a new funding round that now gives the Daly City, California-based enterprise a valuation of $21 billion.
The latest funding round was led by Salesforce Ventures, the global investment arm of customer relationship management (CRM) giant Salesforce. Other investors in the round included ServiceNow Ventures and Zoom Video Communications Inc., along with BlackRock Inc. and D1 Capital Partners.
The funding, according to Genesys CEO and chairman Tony Bates, validates the significant changes that have taken place across the company’s leadership, business model, solutions portfolio, and ecosystem. “Two years ago, we saw the challenge businesses faced in meeting the expectations of consumers and employees around digital experiences,” he said. “We realized we had an opportunity to transform not only our company but the overall industry.”
The fresh capital infusion will also accelerate efforts by Genesys to expand into new markets, amid speculations that the private equity backers of Genesys might be considering a public offering. The size of the funding and valuation could be a sign that companies are increasingly looking to move customer service operations to the cloud, according to Bloomberg News.
The $21 billion valuation for Genesys in this funding round represents a big win for its two major shareholders, both investment firms. London’s Permira Holdings acquired Genesys in 2012 from Alcatel-Lucent for $1.5 billion—less than one-tenth of its current value. Hellman & Friedman, based in San Francisco, made a $900 million investment in 2016 with Genesys valued then at $3.8 billion.
Launched in San Francisco in 1990, Genesys has since built a broad portfolio of software products that help enterprises manage interactions with customers. Genesys also develops software for contact center operations in which chatbots use artificial intelligence (AI) to answer common questions. At present, Genesys provides services in partnership with industry heavyweights like Accenture, Amazon Web Series (AWS), IBM, and Watson. The company says its products are used by close to 7,000 organizations around the world, including 17 of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies. Genesys also has ongoing commitments to enhance its ecosystem through new and expanded strategic alliances, most recently with Google Cloud.
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Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
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