Uniphore, the leader in conversational automation has raised a total of $400 million in Series E funding at a valuation of $2.5 billion, making it the first startup to gain a “unicorn” status from IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC), India’s leading deep-tech startup hub.

The origin of today’s hugely successful Uniphore can be traced back to 2007, when fresh graduates Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi observed a market opportunity for building a startup with deep voice technology, capitalizing on the nascent communication technology sector in India which had only just begun to take off.

Seeking the mentorship of telecom evangelist Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, the duo moved across the country to Chennai to tirelessly harbor this entrepreneurial dream. Over the subsequent year and half, under nurturing and mentorship from the IIT Madras Incubation Cell, this initial seed of an idea was formally incubated in 2008 as Uniphore.

Uniphore initially started by providing speech recognition and voice biometrics technology, however its technology has evolved into a powerful conversational automation platform that combines conversational AI, tonal emotion and computer vision to help recognize language, dialect, emotions, and intent in real time. While Uniphore today marks its global presence, servicing multiple countries, its R&D centre continues to be nurtured at the IITM Research Park.

Speaking on Uniphore’s achievement, Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President, IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) and IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP), said, “It is my biggest joy and pride to see how far our two kids have made it. What we have always aimed to do at IITM Research Park & IITM Incubation Cell is, create such an ecosystem where young people can thrive. It is not only a platform to help them dream big, but we get them to achieve it too. Uniphore has done it and many more are in the process of doing it. This will change India.”

Sharing his views, Umesh Sachdev, Co-Founder and CEO of Uniphore said “From the start, when Ravi and I began our journey 14 years ago at IITMIC, our biggest dream has been to create technologies that would fundamentally impact society and help us be better humans. Our vision and success today have been greatly influenced by IITMIC’s strong emphasis on innovations in the area of deep technology. Today, while we are proud to have reached this milestone, we know there’s a lot more work ahead of us. Demand has catapulted for our conversational AI and automation platform across industries and use cases, beyond the contact centre. Supported by our talented and dedicated employees and our loyal customers and partners, I’m confident that we are more than ready for our next phase of innovation and growth.”

The IITM Incubation Cell (IITMIC) is the umbrella body that nurtures and oversees innovation and entrepreneurship at IIT Madras. With an aim to create an environment for budding entrepreneurs to solve problems of the world, it provides these start-ups with the necessary support to survive and grow in a competitive market. The cell also supports innovation-driven activities at the institute by enabling office space and infrastructure, providing access to business support services alongside mentoring and training programs to enhance the skills of entrepreneurs and seed funds.

Over 250+ startups with impact as a key driver have been incubated through the highly successful innovation ecosystem at IITM Incubation Cell. The vision going ahead is to strengthen India’s startup ecosystem by nurturing more talent from tier 2 & 3 cities and support homegrown startups in achieving stellar recognition in India and globally.