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Japan’s Rakuten leads $18M round into communications startup CafeX
After a series of bold venture investments in financial tech and ride-sharing, Rakuten Inc. is shifting its attention to the world of enterprise technology. The Japanese Internet giant today led an $18 million round into a fast-rising startup called CafeX Communications Inc. that is trying to reshape two markets at once.
Founded in 2013, the New York-based firm launched with the original mission of helping companies streamline customer support. Its flagship Live Assistant service allows contact center personnel to co-view a web page or mobile window that is causing trouble for a user, identify the issue and walk the user through the troubleshooting process using a sort of virtual sharpie. An agent can also share various support resources via the chat window if they’re dealing with a particularly difficult problem.
CafeX’s other and more recent focus is employee communications. The startup made a bold push into the cloud-based collaboration market last week after acquiring Vayyoo Inc., a Canadian videoconferencing provider founded by Blackberry Ltd. veterans. CafeX rebranded its Vayyoo Rooms service to Chime in the wake of the deal.
A few weeks earlier, the startup revealed a partnership with a Rakuten Inc. telecommunications subsidiary that likely served as a stepping stone towards today’s investment. Their alliance will among others see the technology giant bring CafeX’s services into its native Japan. Rakuten’s sales efforts and newly announced capital contribution should provide a major competitive boost for the startup, particularly in the ultra-competitive collaboration space.
CafeX is facing off against Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. with its increasingly popular WebEx service and a host of other better-established rivals. Moreover, the startup will also have to address messaging services such as Slack that are slowly but surely taking market share away from other collaboration tools.
Check out SiliconANGLE’s recent interview with CafeX marketing head Sajeel Hussain below to learn more about where the startup stands:
Image courtesy of CafeX
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