Fast growing B2B SAAS will use the funds to consolidate its technology and to further expand in the Gulf, India, Africa and some selected European markets.
ZIWO the API based Cloud Contact Center Software CCAAS, announced today the closing series A round of financing led by veteran growth equity investor Wamda Capital with additional participation from Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec), largest entrepreneurship tech hub in the Middle East and wholly owned by Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), and other investors. The financing will be used to consolidate the technology and to further expand in the Gulf countries, India, Africa and some selected European markets. Wamda Capital Investment Principal Sarah Abu Risheh will join ZIWO’s board of directors.
“The cost of bad customer experience for companies is staggering, $82 billion per year in US only. We want to help companies to simply talk to their clients, not only through the telephone but via any channel, and to help them understand in real time how they can serve them much better. Customer information is often scattered in many different systems and having the possibility to leverage it seamlessly, gives our clients a definitive advantage. With its unique API architecture, ZIWO integrates with any CRM or app in no time. We have also chosen a “one platform – one client” strategy, allowing deployments in any cloud or region in the world”, said Renaud de Gonfreville, CEO of ZIWO.
“Wamda Capital’s investment thesis is driven by a growing demand for maximum flexibility of resources in business and a changing tech landscape, which make cloud-based solutions the winning model in the space. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are experiencing growth in the number of new data centers and regional SMEs are increasingly embracing SaaS. This puts ZIWO at a prime position as the market moves away from on-premise based solutions to cloud-based services. We’re excited to join the ZIWO team on their journey and are confident their technology will rapidly become the MENA’s premier cross-channel contact center provider,” said Abu Risheh.
Speaking on the investment, William Chappell, Chief Financial Officer at DSOA, said: “Under its visionary leadership, the UAE continues to launch new initiatives and legislations to support aspiring entrepreneurs and SMEs in setting up and growing their businesses in the country. Several startups in the UAE, such as Souq.com and Careem among others, have benefited from the encouraging entrepreneurial environment the country offers and witnessed unprecedented success.”
He added: “ZIWO is proving how next-generation cloud contact centers are revolutionizing customer care through redefining a market that has been dominated by rigid and expensive legacy technologies. Today, consumers switch continuously between channels and contact centers must adapt to better manage these fragmented interactions across voice, email, chat, social media platforms, and SMS. With our investment in ZIWO, we support the company to further expand its business, grow its teams, and invest in new technologies. We are confident that ZIWO will add great value to corporations through its disruptive new-age solution.”
Launched in October 2016 in Dubai, ZIWO is rapidly expanding its client base, mostly in Retail, Financial, Real estate and B2C services. Most companies in the Middle East have an international scope and the cloud provides the flexibility to locate teams anywhere that is convenient to them. ZIWO truly enables companies to deploy instantly and globally their customer care and sales teams. With its local telecom partners, ZIWO also provides virtual access points in any country in the world, allowing companies to reach instantly new markets.
“When DELIVEROO wanted to expand their operations in Kuwait, they could do it in just one day. From our website ziwo.io, clients can deploy their own contact center platform and be live in just few minutes,” said de Gonfreville.
About ZIWO:
Dubai based ZIWO is a Cloud Contact Center As A Service CCAAS fully API based. Launched in October 2016, ZIWO provides an extremely simple solution for companies to talk to their clients and to leverage customer information across systems thru API integration and readymade plugins. For more information, visit https://www.ziwo.io
About Wamda:
Wamda accelerates entrepreneurship ecosystems throughout the MENA region by joining Wamda Capital, the most active, multi-stage, sector agnostic venture capital fund investing in high growth technology or technology-enabled startups across the MENA, and the leading knowledge platform offering integrated programs including media, community development, research, Wamda’s fellowship program Wamda X, as well as corporate and government advisory services to the various stakeholders of the MENA startup ecosystem.
For more information, visit http://wamdacapital.com/
About Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec):
Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec) is the largest entrepreneurship tech hub in the Middle East and wholly owned by Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA). DTEC mission is to contribute in making Dubai the largest tech hub and the leading destination for both UAE startups and entrepreneurs in the Middle East by investing in talented, passionate and ambitious technology founders and teams to build and set up new businesses in Dubai that offer impact, utility and value to the region. For more information, visit https://www.dtec.ae