Latest news with #Whatfix
United News of India
04-07-2025
- Business
- United News of India
Angel pre-seed funding: Rs 42.77 lakh for KSUM startup Othor AI
Kochi, July 4 (UNI) Innovative vertical AI startup Othor AI has raised Rs 42.77 lakh (USD 50,000) in a follow-up pre-seed funding round, hiking the KSUM-registered company's total early-stage funding to Rs 68.40 lakh (USD 80,000), five months after an initial raise of Rs 25 lakh (USD 30,000). The latest round attracted significant participation from prominent names such as Whatfix Co-founder Vara Kumar Namburu, data analytics pioneer Madan Galla and angel investor Mithun Nair. Othor AI, which was founded by Unni Koroth and Nekender Shekhawat in September 2024, continues to gain traction with its specialised vertical AI agents designed for daily business decisions and planning. The company has shown progress since the launch of its beta version in January this year, with the product now having signed agreements with multiple design partners to validate and showcase its value proposition. Koroth said the rapid early traction validates the company's vision of AI-native business intelligence. 'Investors of this calibre joining our journey give us tremendous confidence as we push towards product-market fit,' he observed. 'Our momentum reflects a growing demand for AI-native solutions in the business intelligence space. Organisations seek faster, simpler and more secure alternatives to conventional BI and planning solutions.' The fresh capital will be strategically deployed to accelerate the company's path to product-market fit and prepare both the company and team for an upcoming seed funding round. Additionally, the funding will support Othor AI's ambitious plans for US market entry, positioning the company for international expansion. Koroth previously founded Foradian, widely recognised as a success story in the Indian startup ecosystem. After exiting the Bangalore-based ed-tech firm in 2019, he spent three years at SaaS-based digital adoption platform Whatfix before embarking on his newest entrepreneurial journey with Othor AI. KSUM (Kerala Startup Mission) is the state government's nodal agency established in 2006 for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities. UNI DS ARN 1718
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Accelerate Adoption & ROI from Your AI Investments
In this session, Gokul Suresh, Head of Field Marketing, Whatfix spoke about how to accelerate adoption & ROI from AI investments. This talk was a part of ETCIO Annual Conclave 2025, Goa, May 29-June 1 Advertisement
New Indian Express
04-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Othor AI secures Rs 42.77 lakh in follow-up pre-seed round, eyes US expansion
The company has shown progress since the launch of its beta version in January this year, with the product now having signed agreements with multiple design partners to validate and showcase its value proposition. Koroth said the rapid early traction validates the company's vision of AI-native business intelligence. 'Investors of this calibre joining our journey give us tremendous confidence as we push towards product-market fit,' he observed. 'Our momentum reflects a growing demand for AI-native solutions in the business intelligence space. Organisations seek faster, simpler and more secure alternatives to conventional BI and planning solutions.' The fresh capital will be strategically deployed to accelerate the company's path to product-market fit and prepare both the company and team for an upcoming seed funding round. Additionally, the funding will support Othor AI's ambitious plans for US market entry, positioning the company for international expansion. Koroth previously founded Foradian, widely recognised as a success story in the Indian startup ecosystem. After exiting the Bengaluru-based ed-tech firm in 2019, he spent three years at SaaS-based digital adoption platform Whatfix before embarking on his newest entrepreneurial journey with Othor AI.
Mint
30-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Eight Roads Ventures sells stakes in three firms to TR Capital in $50-million secondary deal
Mumbai: Eight Roads Ventures has sold its stakes in software-as-a-service (Saas) platforms MoEngage and Whatfix as well as logistics firm Shadowfax to TR Capital in a $50-million secondary transaction, the companies said in a statement on Monday. Eight Roads first invested in Shadowfax in 2015, Moengage in 2020 and Whatfix in 2019. MoEngage is a customer engagement platform designed for marketers and product owners to engage, retain and acquire customers across digital touchpoints, while Whatfix provides in-app guidance, training and analytics to help users navigate underlying enterprise software. Shadowfax is a last-mile logistics player that operates in more than 2,500 cities and towns and delivers more than two million shipments daily. Backed by Fidelity, Eight Roads Ventures is a global investment firm that has partnered with more than 300 technology and healthcare companies across India, China, Japan, Europe and the US. Frederic Azemard, managing partner at TR Capital, said, 'Partnering with Eight Roads India showcased that capability: together, we translated a multi-asset opportunity into a win-win transaction for all parties involved. As an acknowledged pioneer of Asia's secondary market, TR Capital will continue expanding its footprint and collaborating with top-tier partners such as Eight Roads to deliver value from complexity,' Secondary transactions are increasing gaining traction in India as several investors at the end of their fund's life cycle are seeking liquidity and gearing up to exit companies they have been invested in for some time. As companies grow and mature, secondary transactions, in which existing investors sell their shares, become a common method for liquidity, according to an EY report. The value of strategic exits and secondary exits grew by 5% to $3.7 billion in 2024 from $3.5 billion in 2023 and is poised to grow further, EY said in January. The increase in secondaries also follows delays in initial public offerings (IPOs) owing to market volatility amid macroeconomic challenges. For instance, LG Electronics delayed its initial public offering (IPO) for its Indian subsidiary, LG Electronics India, due to market volatility earlier this year. Several investment firms such as Multiples and ChrysCapital have pursued continuation funds to remain invested in some of their winning companies while looking to provide exits to their limited partners invested in these funds. These vehicles allow firms to support trophy assets that need more time than the typical fund cycle to reach their full potential while giving limited partners a level of certainty on the returns they will get. India is also seeing a growing appetite for dedicated secondaries funds. Last year Oister Global and Tribe Capital launched a $500 million India-focused secondaries fund. Piyush Gupta, former managing director of venture capital firm Peak XV, launched Kenro Capital to target late-stage secondary deals but didn't disclose details about the size of the fund. TR Capital has increased its focus on India since 2008 and has provided liquidity solutions to several private equity firms through single-asset and portfolio transactions. Its other notable transactions include acquiring stakes from Samara Capital in Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd, First Meridian Business Services Pvt. Ltd, and Paradise Food Court Pvt. Ltd in a $150-million secondary deal in 2023.
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Business Standard
04-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Bessemer names Pankaj Mitra as partner to bolster India investments
Private equity firm Bessemer Venture Partners on Wednesday named Pankaj Mitra as a partner in its India division who will concentrate on investments in enterprise technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. 'I am thrilled to join Bessemer at this pivotal time. The ongoing AI platform shift offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity for builders to usher in the next wave of tech evolution across industries,' said Mitra. 'With its stellar track record, Bessemer is poised to partner with this new generation of ambitious, world-class founders in India addressing pain points domestically and globally.' Mitra, who has more than 25 years of experience in technology, joins Bessemer from Cisco's corporate development team, where for seven years he led investments and mergers and acquisitions activity for the global customer experiences portfolio as well as for India. Some of his investments include Fiddler (AI observability), Uniphore (contact center AI), and Whatfix (digital adoption). Mitra worked at Infosys in a similar capacity and was part of the founding team for its $500 million innovation fund. His investments at Infosys included Ideaforge and Whoop. Earlier in his career, Mitra helped launch VMware's first cloud services as a product manager and was also a management consultant at Deloitte. Mitra is an Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur alumnus and holds an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. 'Pankaj brings a breadth of experience which is a unique blend of investing prowess as well as deep industry knowledge,' said Vishal Gupta, Partner at Bessemer. 'This will be invaluable as we look to deepen our commitments in AI, enterprise-tech, and cybersecurity in India.' Bessemer has been in India for two decades and its legacy investments include Mediassist, Perfios, Swiggy and Urban Company. Some of its more recent partnerships have been with Boldfit, Easebuzz, Protectt, Shopdeck and more. Bessemer announced its second India fund with $350 million of capital in March this year with a focus on AI, fintech, enterprise-tech, digital health, consumer, and cybersecurity.
