Talkdesk Valuation Triples to More Than $10 Billion, Appoints First Chief Financial Officer

By AIT News Desk On Aug 12, 2021

Series D funding and appointment of new chief financial officer ignite company’s next stage of growth in addressing the worldwide demand for cloud contact center solutions

$230 million raised in recent funding pushes valuation beyond $10 billion, placing Talkdesk among the most highly valued private companies in the SaaS or enterprise software space. In total, Talkdesk has now raised $498 million.
Addition of SaaS-industry veteran Sydney Carey as chief financial officer further accelerates corporate maturation and creates one of the industry’s most gender diverse executive teams, with women holding 50% of the company’s senior leadership positions.
Talkdesk also marks its third consecutive year on the Forbes Cloud 100, jumping 36 spots to #17, underscoring the global market demand for a better way to deliver great customer experiences.
Talkdesk positioned again as a Leader in the just-released 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Contact Center as a Service report.

Talkdesk, Inc., the global customer experience leader for customer-obsessed companies, announced the closing of its series D funding. The company has raised $230 million and is now valued at more than $10 billion, placing it among the most highly valued private companies in the SaaS or enterprise software industry. The company also announced the appointment of Sydney Carey as chief financial officer (CFO).

“I join a stellar Talkdesk executive team, and I’m eager to work alongside each of these leaders to take the company into its next decade of transformational growth.”

This latest funding from both new and existing strategic investors highlights increased confidence in the company’s market position, its technology, and the strategic role contact center technology plays in delivering exceptional customer experiences. The funding came from new investors Whale Rock Capital Management, TI Platform Management, and Alpha Square Group; as well as from existing investors Amity Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Top Tier Capital Partners, Viking Global Investors, and Willoughby Capital. In total, Talkdesk has now raised $498 million in funding since inception.

“For many organizations, the contact center is fast becoming a driver of tangible business results and an asset to the bottom line,” said Tiago Paiva, founder and chief executive officer, Talkdesk. “Since its founding, Talkdesk has been challenging the status quo and shaking up the industry’s old world order to make this a reality. We’re grateful for the continued confidence in our strategy and more determined each day of our unique ability to help companies deliver memorable customer experiences, one engagement at a time.”

This new funding will fuel Talkdesk in its second decade of transformational growth as the company remains focused on expanding its international presence, leading with industry-first customer experience (CX) product innovations, delivering white-glove customer service, and creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce.

“I’ve followed the Talkdesk transformation over the years, and to see the company grow from its start at a hackathon into its current valuation of more than $10 billion is impressive,” said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst, ZK Research. “I estimate that the CCaaS TAM will be around $50 billion in five years, so if Talkdesk keeps executing on its growth plan, the company has a great opportunity to capture a significant portion of market share.”

Talkdesk executive leadership team welcomes company’s first CFO

The addition of SaaS-industry veteran Sydney Carey as CFO, further advances the Talkdesk corporate maturation. Carey’s appointment also makes Talkdesk a rarity in the tech industry, with half of the positions on its executive leadership team held by women. Carey joins Talkdesk from Sumo Logic, where she successfully led the organization through an initial public offering. Her broad range of financial and operational experience includes executive and board member roles in accounting, financial planning, mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, treasury, facilities, compliance, and IT/business operations.

“I’m proud to join Talkdesk at this pivotal moment in the company’s journey. Some of the most rewarding experiences in my career have centered around helping innovative, fast-growth companies like Talkdesk manage acceleration, scale effectively to meet changing business demands, and formalize operations,” said Carey. “I join a stellar Talkdesk executive team, and I’m eager to work alongside each of these leaders to take the company into its next decade of transformational growth.”

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Prior to her work with Sumo Logic, Carey held CFO positions at several high-growth companies, including Duo Security (acquired by Cisco), Apttus, Zscaler, and MongoDB. She additionally served as executive vice president and CFO at TIBCO Software, a multibillion-dollar public software company. Carey currently serves on the board of directors for Asana, a leading work management platform for teams.

Recent milestones spark next phase in mission to deliver a better way to great CX

During the past two years, Talkdesk gained significant momentum in executing its bold vision. This includes the introduction of more than 30 product innovations and new market expansions into Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Southeast Asia, and Spain. Talkdesk also expanded its ecosystem of resellers, cloud distributors, strategic alliances, and AppConnect marketplace partnerships to more than 300 contracted partners and thousands of sub-agents. The company followed a record-setting 2020 by doubling the number of employees to nearly 2,000 and appointed Laura Butler as the first chief human resources officer for Talkdesk.

Beginning the next phase of its journey, Talkdesk made history in April with the launch of a new logo, tagline, and global advertising campaign. The launch also featured two more innovations: Talkdesk Workspace, the first customizable interface for contact center teams, and Talkdesk Builder, a set of tools for customization across workspaces, routing, reporting, and integrations.

Talkdesk is also changing the game for customer experience when it comes to solving the unique challenges of vertical industries. In June, the company unveiled Talkdesk Financial Services Experience Cloud^™ and Talkdesk Healthcare Experience Cloud^™, the first purpose-built contact center solutions for the specific needs of financial services and healthcare organizations.

As part of its quest to revolutionize the contact center market and automate 80 percent of customer interactions, Talkdesk also introduced the industry’s first human-in-the-loop tool for contact centers and continues to lower the barrier to adopting artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

Earlier this week, Talkdesk earned recognition on the annual Forbes Cloud 100, the definitive ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world. This marks the third consecutive year Talkdesk has appeared on the list. Catapulting 36 spots, Talkdesk landed at #17, highlighting the global demand for a better way to deliver great customer experiences.

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Supporting investor quotes

“As the traditional contact center market transitions to a true cloud, omni-channel platform, we think a leader will emerge to capture a significant share of the market. The Talkdesk industry leading platform is well positioned to be that winner and we are excited to partner with the company for many years to come,” said Andrew Frank, partner, Whale Rock Capital Management.

“We have followed the progress of Tiago since his inception of the firm and are now delighted to partner with him and his exceptional team directly. Talkdesk is an example of what can happen when a strong team is assembled behind a winning idea. We believe Talkdesk is building a broad communications platform that is transforming how businesses connect with their customers. Today, Talkdesk has become near-ubiquitous as a SaaS product with adoption across a broad array of industries and integrations with the most popular enterprise cloud platforms, including Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack. Talkdesk not only offers a best of breed CCaaS solution, but is a true customer engagement platform of the future that is AI-enabled and cloud-native,” said Alex Bangash and Trang Nguyen, co-founders, TI Platform Management.

“It’s now a necessity for companies across commercial and public-sectors to embrace a digital future. Talkdesk has spent nearly a decade laying the foundation for a modern customer experience and today delivers the only end-to-end solution that meets the needs of the new way to work,” said CJ Reim, general partner, Amity Ventures.

“Talkdesk is quickly executing against its strategy and bringing together diverse talent, innovative technology, and an expanding global reach to address a market that shows no signs of slowing. We’re keen to watch the company push forward and further cement its leadership position, as the contact center transitions from being a cost center to a revenue center and source of customer insight,” said Jonathan Curtis, vice president, research analyst and portfolio manager with Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Equity Group.

“Talkdesk continues to be a market leader and true innovator in the customer experience vertical. The team has successfully navigated unprecedented market dynamics while demonstrating exceptional growth and product innovation. Top Tier Capital Partners remains a big supporter of Talkdesk, and we are honored to have the opportunity to continue to support them during this next phase of growth,” said Garth Timoll, managing director, Top Tier Capital Partners.