Uniphore, an India-based conversational automation firm, announced Wednesday its Series E funding round of $400 million.

The round, which brings Uniphore’s total funding to more than half a billion ($610 million) is led by American-based venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and raises the company’s valuation to $2.5 billion, Uniphore said in a statement.

It added that March Capital and other existing Uniphore investors along with new entities were also participating in this funding round.

The new round of funding is Uniphore’s largest to date and will be used to extend Uniphore’s technology and market leadership with advancements in voice artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision and tonal emotion, as well as to expand its business operations globally, specifically in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Uniphore said the market for automating enterprise conversations has rapidly accelerated in the past few years as companies recognize the impact of positive customer interactions on their brand image and customer loyalty. As a result, many businesses have turned to artificial intelligence and automation to create smooth and frictionless customer experiences, and Uniphore has been at the forefront of innovation leading the industry.

“Understanding conversations and the data and insights derived from them is essential to every business. Our conversational automation engine has been delivering powerful and innovative solutions to help enterprises not just survive but thrive amidst all the demands placed on them by customers. It is an incredibly exciting time to be in this industry and at Uniphore, with a rapidly growing customer base and unparalleled talent joining our leadership team and board of directors. I am looking forward to working with businesses around the world to help drive their success in 2022,” said Umesh Sachdev, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Uniphore.

Uniphore’s rapid growth rate has also warranted new additions to its team. Announced on Wednesday is the appointment of Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, Venture Partner, NEA, to Uniphore’s Board of Directors. Koplow-McAdams is a seasoned enterprise software and services executive who brings more than three decades of experience for both growth-stage and established companies. Bolstering the strength of its leadership team, the company recently appointed Balaji Raghavan as Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Dahlkemper as Chief People Officer, and Vinod Muthukrishnan as Senior Vice President, Developer Platforms.

“When we look at Uniphore’s technology and the great advances the company has made in the last few years, we are very excited about its future product roadmap and are thrilled to participate in this new round,” said Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, Venture Partner, NEA.

“As we continue to operate in an increasingly virtual work model, technologies like Uniphore’s are a necessity for organizations that want to unleash their competitive advantage and take their business to the next level,” she said.

Uniphore claimed itself as the global leader in conversational automation. At Uniphore, it believes companies that best understand and take action on those conversations in customer service, sales, human resource, education and more will win. It has built the most comprehensive and powerful conversational automation platform that combines conversational AI, workflow automation, and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) with a business user-friendly-UX in a single integrated platform to transform and democratize customer experiences across industries.

Last year, the company embarked on two major acquisitions – Emotion Research Lab for added capabilities in emotion AI, and Jacada, for enhanced low-code/no-code capabilities.

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