Velaris, a UK based Tech startup with routes to Sri Lanka co-founded by Dilanka Kalutota and José Fernández-Castaño, has successfully raised $4.7 million to enhance its AI-driven customer success platform as it aims to accelerate plans to launch and expand its international presence.
Velaris’ Sri Lanka office provides employment opportunities to talented local ICT professionals, and the company’s success journey so far has brought in much-needed foreign currency revenue to Sri Lanka as the country works towards recovering from the ongoing economic crisis. Velaris has developed a pioneering customer success platform for B2B tech companies and has been able to disrupt the customer success market by filling a specific market gap. This fresh investment was led by one of the Pioneering venture capital firms Octopus followed by Zaka and Fintech 365. The impressive figure demonstrates the confidence in this promising platform as well as the vision of the founders considering it was only founded 18 months ago. The fresh capital will be utilised to add a Machine Learning-led layer to Velaris’ platform, thereby allowing B2B tech companies to better understand their customers, strengthen relationships, and retain and expand their business with them through data-driven decisions. The startup also aims to develop R&D and boost further expansion in London, Madrid and Sri Lanka.
Sharing his thoughts, Velaris Co-Founder & CEO Dilanka Kalutota stated, “We are incredibly excited to have raised this capital. The seed round will enable us to launch our intelligence layer and gain a unique position within the market to be the first AI-led Customer Success platform. Velaris will serve the entire organization enabling horizontal growth in other teams and becoming the single source of truth for customer data. I am also happy and humbled to announce that the vast majority of our development team is based in Sri Lanka, and I believe projects like this will not only support our country it will also inspire brilliant homegrown minds!
Co-Founder & COO José Fernández-Castaño commented, “Understanding this economic landscape, Customer Success teams are uniquely positioned to help their companies weather the downturn through retention and expansion of existing revenues. We’re thrilled to now enable CS teams with a truly innovative and game-changing solution. With Octopus Ventures’ belief in Velaris, we’re able to democratize customer experience data and empower CS teams to have a greater impact across the company.”
As the uncertain economic climate extends across the globe, experts believe that customer satisfaction will continue to prove essential for business survival. The COVID-19 pandemic also drove home the message that retaining and expanding existing customers, rather than focusing on new sales, should be the main priority for all organisations faced with increasing budget cuts and slowing or stagnant growth.
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