Chennai-based Uniphore, a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) technology company, has raised $51 million in Series-C funding led by March Capital Partners, with participation from Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures), Sistema Asia, CXO Fund, ITP, Iron Pillar, Patni Family, and other investors.

Though the Uniphore officials were tight-lipped on the valuation, market sources said that the firm is closer to becoming a Unicorn.

Uniphore will use the funds to accelerate its go-to-market in North America, invest in research and development for the next wave of innovation on its platform and grow its talented employee base, globally.

The company in the past had raised over $20 million through Series-A and B rounds from Krish Gopalakrishnan and ex-Cisco chairman John Chambers and other investors.

The new round of funding is Uniphore’s largest to date and marks one of the most substantial funding rounds in the conversational AI sector.

Umesh Sachdev, CEO and co-founder, Uniphore, said: “Today’s announcement of our Series-C funding represents a major milestone for Uniphore and the conversational AI market as a whole. This funding will accelerate our vision to redefine customer service through AI-enabled conversational service automation (CSA). We have always been strong innovators, and our global customers continue to rely on our solutions to help them deliver exceptional customer service. With this new round of funding, we will be able to accelerate our global expansion and better serve our customers by developing and delivering innovative CSA solutions to more organisations around the world.”

Sumant Mandal, MD of March Capital Partners, said: “Uniphore recognised early on that the customer service industry had fundamental limitations which were not being addressed. Brands were not building meaningful relationships with their customers because they were simply reacting, rather than being proactive. Uniphore’s conversational AI technology is changing the way brands are serving and engaging with their customers.”

John Chambers, CEO and founder of JC2 Ventures, and an advisor to Uniphore, who picked up 10% stake in Uniphore in 2017, welcomed the funding. “Uniphore’s continued success is a testament to the company’s ability to foresee the next market transition and evolve the business model based on that insight promptly.”