MOBtexting is looking at mobile and cloud telephony for all customer communications
MOBtexting is a B2B omni-channel communication platform, which is equipped with messaging, cloud telephony, e-mailing, notifications, campaign tracker, and chat bots.
In a world that is ‘mobile first’, the traditional modes of customer engagement and communication are no longer valid. Brands have become more accessible than they ever were. Looking at this shift, Brijesh Kashyap and his classmate and roommate from PGDM days, Ajay Kumar Gupta, started MOBtexting.
Brijesh had wanted to do something in the mobile and cloud telephony space in 2012 itself. The two founders came up with the name 3m Digital network that stands for messaging, media, and mobility.
Brijesh says that while looking at the way mobile and internet penetration was taking on the world, they realised that companies were building product to build user base and help the end consumer, but the corporate, SME, and startup world was largely ignored.
The beginnings
MOBtexting first started as a messaging company. However, it soon expanded to build a customer engagement platform, which can simplify communication systems and provide ease of access to startups, banks, e-commerce platforms, real-estate companies, education institutions, travel, and transportation.
Today, it works as an omni-channel communication platform, which is equipped with messaging, cloud telephony, e-mailing, notifications, campaign tracker, and chat bots. The idea is that the customer gets everything on his or phone—offers, deals, coupons, reminders, alerts, promotional calls, notifications, and customer support.
The duo had worked for 160by2 and understood the space. They started with an initial capital of Rs 1 lakh at Koramangala, Bengaluru. However, both Ajay and Brijesh, didn’t know how to code, so they first decided to get a tech co-founder, and after much search, they onboarded Rajesh Kumar Sahoo, who was a tech genius.
Revenue growth and product
The team claims that in the first year of operations, they did a business of Rs 40 lakh with a four-member team, and in the second year their revenues doubled. In the third and fourth year, their revenues were at Rs 1.2 crore and Rs 2 crore respectively. This year, the team is targeting a revenue of over Rs 10 crore.
Since the platform is focused around multiple industries, the offering includes—messaging, integrated CRM with marketing automation, a ticketing system that receives incoming customer requests or queries, and creates a customer service ticket automatically.
Cloud telephony systems, outbound calls, some automated outbound calls, IVR system, number masking systems, unified communication systems. Brijesh adds,
“These innovations won't simply enhance the way your employee performs errands—the impacts will eventually stream down to your client base. In turn, better project management and productivity rates will permit your employees to propose different locations from where your organisation can be enhanced. All of this can be done while customers feel important part of your business.”
The competition
Recently, Mumbai-based Customer360 was acquired by US-based Interactive Intelligence. Customer360’s Software as a Service (SaaS) product was launched in September 2013 and it offers a customer engagement platform that includes video chat and mobile apps for live chat and helpdesk.
Freshdesk, which was recently re-branded as Freshworks, is one of the biggest players in the enterprise space. The company competes with global players like Zendesk, Salesforce, and in some of its product suites, even Zoho.
The Chennai-based company has offices in the US, London, Sydney, and Berlin. It had raised $55 million from Sequoia Capital and Accel in its last round of funding in November last year.
Capillary Technologies, which provides an integrated marketing platform providing omni-channel solutions for retailers, had earlier raised a $45-million Series C round from Warburg Pincus in September.
Differentiator and future plans
While Brijesh agrees that there are multiple players in the field, their USP is their communication channel. He adds that the entire competitor base has multiple user interfaces and multiple services have multiple accounts. He says,
“But our USP is a single application for all the communication tools. This keeps us apart from our competitors. The beauty of the product is that APIs, dashboard, plugins, and customization can be done for any client, which puts us into strong zone every time. Most of our revenue comes from SMEs. This financial year we have planned to onboard 1000 plus SME, 50 Enterprise clients and 10 BFSI and NBFC clients.”
Currently, the team is working towards building newer products. Brijesh adds that they want to create more value-added services in the mobility industry.
“By end of this and next year, our plan is to reach Rs 10 crore revenue with a growth rate of 300 percent, with the help of the newer products we are building,” says Brijesh.