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AI-first SaaS voice automation startup Skit (formerly known as vernacular.ai) has secured $23 million as part of its Series B funding to fuel the next level of growth and product evolution.

The investment was led by WestBridge Capital with participation from Kalaari Capital and Exfinity Ventures, Angelist syndicate led by Aaryaman Vir Shah from Prophetic Ventures, and LetsVenture syndicate led by Sense AI.

The startup said it will use the funding for sales and marketing, building delivery capabilities, R&D to speed up innovation, and to further enhance the company’s products while expanding globally.

The fundraising follows its Series A announcement in May 2020, led by Exfinity Ventures and Kalaari Capital, AngelList, with IAN Fund and LetsVenture also participating in the round. This Series B funding brings the startup’s total fundraise to $30 million.

The startup plans to double down and scale operations in both Indian and global markets. Since the last fundraise, Skit claims to have been able to increase its revenue and customer growth by over 4x building a strong partner network across industries such as banking, insurance, ecommerce, consumer durables, travel and logistics, among others. It has strengthened its workforce by over 6x to prepare for future growth.

Founded in 2016 by IIT Roorkee alumni Sourabh Gupta and Akshay Deshraj, Skit’s suite of speech and language solutions enable enterprises to automate their call center operations.

With over 10 million hours of training data, its product – Vernacular Intelligent Voice Assistant (VIVA) can currently respond in over 16+ languages, covering over 160+ dialects and replicating human-like conversations. 

Commenting on the capital raise, Sourabh Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of Skit, said, 

“This investment comes when we are making strategic inroads into the US and SouthEast Asian markets. Clients and investors alike have recognised the uniqueness and superiority of our product and continue to show confidence in our growth path. The global contact center market size is expected to grow steadily and reach a value of $496 billion by 2027.”

“To address this sizable growth, we at Skit are using voice bot innovation and our market observations to personalise caller experiences at customer contact centers, and deliver up to 50 percent cost reduction and superior customer experience. We are driven by the passion of our clients and our team to change the way businesses interact with their customers,” he added.

“We are delighted to back Sourabh and Akshay as they continue to help global companies transform how customer service is delivered. 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,” stated Sashi Reddi, Venture Advisor to WestBridge Capital.