Starting with just two clients, B2B SaaS startup Whatfix recorded 300 pc revenue growth in 1 year

Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar quit Huawei Telecom in 2011 to build a product that would help SMBs enhance their marketing capabilities. The product SearchEnabler would crawl across interwebs for data points, analyse them, and identify marketing recommendations. 

While the solution was successful, customers needed instruction and support to leverage the solution. Thus, in 2014, the duo pivoted to an interactive guidance platform for enterprises, and renamed the startup to Whatfix.

“Every software organisation solves for product and feature adoption, even the largest in the world. We now play a significant role in the digital adoption process while still allowing our customers to learn and adapt to digital transformation at their own pace,” Khadim, Co-founder and CEO of Whatfix, tells YourStory. 

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Solving for enterprises

B2B SaaS startup Whatfix provides in-app overlays and guidance for implemented software. It provides services, including product adoption, user onboarding, employee training, self-service support, and performance support using enterprise web applications.

The platform allows SaaS application users to create interactive walkthroughs, or in-app guidance flows that can lead users through a task.

“Our primary target are companies with more than 1,000 employees because once they reach this point, they will need some deploying of complex enterprise software, which is where we can support them,” Khadim explains. 

Starting small with just two customers — a hospital management system in the US and a library in France — Whatfix now works with several Fortune 500 companies.

Some of its clients include Automation Anywhere, Experian, Grifols, REG Services Group, Reed Specialist Recruitment, Sentry Financial Services, Cardinal Health Canada, and DaVita Healthcare, among others. The startup’s core customer-base is in North-America. However, it continues to grow in India and APAC.

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Enabling remote on-boarding 

With most companies working remotely now, Whatfix is helping enterprises train their new employees in new software and processes remotely. The startup has been creating customised and real-time in-app guides and tutorials for onboarding of employees and getting results from complex offerings like CRM systems. 

Whatfix claims it has increased employee productivity by 35 percent, reducing training time and costs by 60 percent, reducing employee case tickets by 50 percent, and increasing application data accuracy by 20 percent. 

“In a world where CRMs or other sophisticated software requires significant training and time before it can be used properly, we are enabling faster, more efficient onboarding, and usage for all types of organisations,” Khadim says.

Whatfix works on a SaaS-based model, and the pricing fluctuates based on the requirements of each client, in terms of support required, applications and customisations.

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Soaring high 

While headquartered in Bengaluru, Whatfix is a global startup, with employees based across multiple continents. The team increased its strength by 45 percent between January and June 2020 and has over 300 employees at present. The startup has offices in San Jose, Atlanta, Cambridge, and Melbourne. 

Just over the last year, Whatfix claims to have on-boarded over 100 Fortune 1000 customers. In 2019, it claims to have increased its total revenue by 300 percent. 

The B2B SaaS startup also achieved a Customer Net Promoter Score of 65 in the 100th percentile of the B2B SaaS industry.

“We were also recognised in top analysts research reports, thus securing our position as the leader in the erupting Digital Adoption Solutions (DAS) market,” Khadim says. 

So far, Whatfix has raised $49.8 million. This year alone, it raised $32 million in its Series C round, led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, Cisco Investments, and F-Prime Capital.

Whatfix is also backed by Stellaris Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners, Powerhouse Ventures, and angel investors including Gokul Rajaram, Girish Mathrubootham, Aneesh Reddy, and Vispi Daver. 

Last year, Whatfix acquired Airim, which provides an artificial intelligence (AI) powered personalisation engine for users and customers. “The acquisition made us the industry’s first Digital Adoption Solution (DAS) to offer Autonomous Personalisation,” says Khadim. 

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Market overview 

Research Advisory company Gartner expects SaaS solutions to generate around $105 billion globally in 2020 alone. Some of the popular players in the B2B SaaS performance support market include WalkMe, Pendo, Intercom, and Appcues.

At present, Whatfix is actively expanding its team across geographies. Besides the five existing offices, the startup is now expanding to the EU. It has started hiring in Germany.

Whatfix continues to re-invest in development and technologies that it provides. Going forward, the startup is focusing on building its new category — Digital Adoption.

“Many understand the problems we solve but don’t necessarily understand that there is a solution available to them. That is the task we are currently solving,” Khadim quips.