Invoca Inc., a startup using artificial intelligence to help companies optimize their contact center operations, today announced that it has closed a $83 million late-stage funding round at a $1.1 billion valuation.

Silver Lake Waterman led the Series F round. It was joined by Hollyport Capital, Kingfisher Investment Advisors, Fenwick & West and several returning backers. Invoca says that the investment follows a year in which its annual revenue run rate surpassed $100 million.

Santa Barbara, California-based Invoca provides a platform that analyzes conversations between a company’s contact center representatives and customers to find ways of increasing sales. The company says the insights produced by its platform are also useful for other tasks, such as optimizing the interface of an e-commerce website.

For marketing teams, Invoca can provide information on what percentage of customers’ contact center interactions lead to a purchase. The startup’s platform also gleans more granular data. It’s capable of collecting information about customer preferences that a company’s marketing team can use to optimize promotional materials.

For sales groups, Invoca offers features that can be used to measure how effectively contact center representatives promote products to customers. The startup’s AI algorithms find opportunities for improvement and help companies optimize their sales efforts. Online retailers, meanwhile, can use Invoca’s platform to analyze customer support requests for insight into how their e-commerce websites could be improved.

Invoca provides integrations that enable companies to stream data from its platform to external analytics tools for further processing. Marketing teams, for example, can combine data from Invoca with ad performance information to estimate more accurately how an ad campaign contributes to sales.

“When consumers look for value-added expertise in buying the right product or resolving an urgent service issue, they often escalate from digital self-service to speak with a human expert,” said Invoca Chief Executive Officer Gregg Johnson. “We’re using data, automation, and AI to integrate these digital journeys with conversations in the contact center, helping brands deliver a delightful experience, drive revenue and strengthen customer relationships.”

The startup says it reached the $100 million annual revenue run rate mark after growing sales by more than 70% in 2021. According to the startup, its customer base includes the top three wireless carriers in the U.S., major financial institutions and tech companies such Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Invoca will invest its latest funding round in several areas. The startup plans to improve its AI technology, as well as build new capabilities that can help increase the productivity of contact center representatives. Invoca said it intends to expand its feature set through a combination of in-house software development and acquisitions. 

“Our customers have asked us to support a wider range of use cases, including outbound sales, customer retention, and customer service,” Johnson detailed in a blog post. “We are increasing investments to address these areas and integrate more deeply into the marketing, eCommerce, sales, and service ecosystems that are critical to our customers’ success.”

Invoca will expand its go-to-market efforts in conjunction. The startup plans to grow its international presence, as well as establish more technology partnerships and grow its channel program.

Image: Invoca