Cloud contact center software startup Talkdesk Inc. disclosed a big valuation bump today, announcing that it has raised an outsize $143 million funding round valuing it at more than $3 billion.

The round continues a recent trend of investors backing startups whose technology helps companies remotely engage customers. 

Talkdesk previously raised $125 million in funding. This latest financing was provided by prominent investment firm Franklin Templeton and about half a dozen other institutional backers.

San Francisco-based Talkdesk sells a cloud contact center platform that companies use to field customer support inquiries, as well as process calls their salespeople make to buyers. The platform’s appeal is that it’s an “all-in-one” product, as the startup describes it, providing a broad feature set designed to cover all the different requirements of a large enterprise. Centralizing call center operations on one platform is easier for information technology teams than cobbling together multiple tools.

Talkdesk also has other features that lower the adoption barrier. Its platform, the CX Cloud, can plug into companies’ existing phone systems to let them keep their negotiated rates for numbers and call minutes. There are integrations with popular services such as Salesforce.com that often play a role in enterprises’ customer engagements.

Talkdesk has more than 1,800 clients including Fortune 500 members such as Accenture Plc. It claims a 124% net retention score, a measure of the extent to which users increase their spending with a supplier. Talkdesk’s combination of a software-as-a-service business model and customers who on average increase their spending on its platform over time could boost its initial public offering prospects, that is if and when the startup decides to list.

But with $143 million in new funding on the books, Talkdesk likely has plenty of runway before having to weigh an IPO. For now, the startup said it plans to increase research and development spending as well as expand business operations.

The cloud contact center segment in which Talkdesk operates is a crowded market where it faces competition from Amazon Web Services Inc and major pure-play providers such as publicly traded Five9 Inc., plus fellow startups.

One of those startups, Aircall SE, raised $65 million in May. A number of other emerging players that provide tools for remote customer interactions have also closed funding recently. Among them are Kaizo Inc. and sales automation provider Outreach Inc., which achieved unicorn status last month. 

Photo: Talkdesk