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Helpshift’s support platform includes native functionality such as in-app FAQ’s, in-app chat, a full CRM ticketing system, in-app campaigns, and in-app surveys

Helpshift Co-founders Abinash Tripathy and Baishampayan Ghose

Cisco Investments, the VC arm of global tech giant Cisco, has participated in the Series B funding round of Helpshift, an India- and US-based startup providing customer support to enterprises.

The first tranche of Series B worth US$23 million came from Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Intel Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, True Ventures and Visionnaire Ventures in June this year.

While the actual size of Cisco’s investment was not disclosed, a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests the tech giant infused around US$2 million in the startup.

With this, Helpshift’s total investment so far has reached US$38.2 million. Previously, the startup has raised US$10 million in June 2014.

Helpshift and Cisco will also explore opportunities to integrate Helpshift’s in-app customer support solutions with the latter’s leading contact centre solutions.

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“Apps have become the primary way in which consumers and employees in the enterprise are accessing products and services,” said Abinash Tripathy, CEO and Co-founder of Helpshift.

“Just like customer service moved away from phone (voice) to email in the era of the web, we are now seeing a transition where customer service is moving inside apps to eliminate all the friction in the process of supporting users. With the additional funding from Cisco Investments, we are looking to help the entire contact centre industry transition from being reactive to proactive while driving higher customer satisfaction and lowering cost,” he added.

Founded in 2011, Helpshift makes it easy for businesses — large and small — to proactively support and engage its customers. Its support platform includes native functionality such as in-app FAQ’s, in-app chat, a full CRM ticketing system, in-app campaigns, and in-app surveys, making it easy for companies to provide customer support experience on any device.

In the smartphone era, customers are using mobile apps to interact with products and services. By bringing customer service in-app, Helpshift claims to have eliminated the frustration of customers having to leave the app to get support. The company provides a messaging experience to enable customers to talk to companies like they would talk to their friends.

Companies such as Zynga, Virgin Media, Microsoft, Western Union, Flipboard, Shyp, WordPress, and thousands of other brands, startups, and developers use Helpshift.

The app is installed on two billion devices worldwide, and serves 400-plus million mobile customers monthly, it further claimed.

Image Credit: Helpshift

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