Talkdesk Worth $3 Billion With Franklin Templeton, Och Backing

(Bloomberg) -- Talkdesk Inc., which makes cloud-based customer service software, has raised $143 million in a new funding round that pegs its valuation at more than $3 billion, roughly triple the prior mark.

The San Francisco-based startup received backing from new investors including Franklin Templeton, Dan Och’s family office Willoughby Capital, Australian investment firm Skip Capital, Mitchell Green’s Lead Edge Capital and Top Tier Capital Partners LLC. Prior backers including Connecticut-based hedge fund Viking Global Investors and Threshold Ventures also participated in the funding.

“The goal is to keep investing in research and development, and to continue expanding our Fortune 1000 customer base,” Chief Executive Officer Tiago Paiva said in an interview. No new investors are joining the board, he said.

Talkdesk is experiencing rapid growth, with revenue for the quarter ended April 30 doubling from a year earlier, Paiva said. He expects the company’s revenue growth over the three months through July 31 to be similarly robust.

An initial public offering is “perhaps in the cards in the near future,” Paiva said, declining to provide any indication on timing.

The company has more than 1,800 customers including online education technology provider 2U Inc., travel site Trivago NV and Peloton Interactive Inc. Some have become more heavily reliant on Talkdesk in recent months due to an increase in customer queries as people began working from home.

Read more: Customer service software startup Talkdesk hits unicorn status

Talkdesk, which has about 1,100 employees, is “aggressively hiring,” Paiva said, adding that it has not laid off or furloughed staff during the pandemic.

“Talkdesk’s market potential is large, and its business model is promising,” Jonathan Curtis, a portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Equity Group, said in a statement.

Willoughby Capital President Morgan Rutman said the company’s customer service offerings are “mission-critical” across various industries as they navigate the global health crisis.

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