New investors in the customer service software startup include Franklin Templeton and Dan Och’s family office Willoughby Capital.

Talkdesk, the maker of cloud-based customer service software, announced Thursday its Series C raise of $143 million at a valuation of more than $3 billion. The startup achieved unicorn status in its previous funding round in October 2018 when it raised $100 million at a valuation of over $1 billion. (Channel Partners)

New investors taking part in this latest round include Franklin Templeton, Willoughby Capital, Skip Capital, Lead Edge Capital, and Top Tier Capital Partners. Existing partners Viking Global Investors and Threshold Ventures also participated.

Talkdesk’s aggregate funding now stands at $268 million.

Talkdesk a CCaaS provider

Talkdesk is a market leader in the Contact-Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS) space. It is a high-growth startup with revenue in the quarter ended April 30 doubling compared to the year-ago quarter. Chief Executive Officer Tiago Paiva (pictured above) said in an interview with Bloomberg that the trend is likely to continue in the ensuing quarter ending in July.

Talkdesk’s clients use its service to keep on top of their customer service needs. Further, the end customers who interact with these clients’ contact centers and service support teams report higher satisfaction. Talkdesk’s competitors are Nice InContact, Five9, Genesys, 8×8, and Serenova, according to Channel Partners.

“This new funding will allow Talkdesk to extend its competitive advantage through innovation by an increased focus on research and development, and expanding its reach into the Fortune 500,” said Jon Heaps, Talkdesk‘s vice president of channels. “Additionally, the funding will power an expansion of go-to-market strategies with investment in sales, marketing, and channel organizations and programs to continued global expansion.”

Talkdesk counts over 1,800 innovative companies around the world, including IBM, Acxiom, 2U, Trivago, and Peloton, amongst its customers.

COVID-19

“COVID-19 has catalyzed accelerated investment in cloud-based solutions,” the company said. “Many consumer-facing brands have effectively lost their primary retail channel, making the need to provide world-class support a strategic imperative.”

“As many enterprises move operations to a completely remote setting for the first time, Talkdesk’s cloud-native solutions ensure that agents can deliver an exceptional customer experience regardless of their location,” Talkdesk added.

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