Singapore-based software as a service (SaaS) startup Novocall recently announced that it has secured US$503,000 in a 500 Durians-led seed round of funding. Other participants of the seed funding round include various angel investors such as Chan Kee Siak, founder and chief executive officer of Exabytes; early stage venture fund and accelerator Expara Asia Ventures; and 500 Startups Thailand, or 500 TukTuks, the Thailand-based extension of 500 Startups. 500 Durians is the US$10 million microfund of America-based early stage venture fund 500 Startups, founded by Dave McClure, that is dedicated solely to making investments in the Southeast Asia region.
The fresh injection of funds will be utilized by the conversational sales automation startup to further accelerate its growth and expansion plans, which include product development, customer base expansion and entry into new regional markets, in particular Thailand and Indonesia. Currently, Novocall’s sales automation service is being used by more than two thousand brands in over forty countries globally. For the region of Southeast Asia, the SaaS startup counts fifty clients split among the countries of Malaysia and Singapore. Some of the businesses that the startup services include Exabytes, leading Singaporean peer-to-peer lending platform Validus Capital, and technology company Knorex.
Previously, the Singapore-based startup had received grant funding in the form of a US$21,000 sum from Startup SG Founder, which is a Singaporean platform that aims to provide startup capital grant and mentorship support to local first-time entrepreneurs and startups with innovative and potentially disruptive ideas. The grant funding is allocated by matching SGD3 to every SGD1 raised by the startup or entrepreneur, up to a total of SGD30,000 (approximately US$21,000). Novocall was also a recipient of the Business Improvement Fund, which is managed by the Singapore Tourism Board.
Established in 2018 by three Singapore University of Technology and Design alumni, Novocall operates a call automation and attribution platform that provides click-to-call solutions, powered by data-driven insights, that connect website visitors to sales calls by way of a scheduled call or instant call for higher sales conversion. Additionally, the sales automation startup also provides call tracking for optimization of marketing campaigns with ad platform integrations. Potential website converts are tracked, thoroughly analyzed and then scored to determine whether they qualify as leads so that only serious buyers are engaged and no time is wasted. Once a lead has been qualified, they are then connected to the most capable agent via an intelligently routed call. Novocall’s solution helps businesses to enhance their performance and reduce costs by minimizing human errors and streamlining processes and functions via its proprietary automated callback software.
The SaaS startup Novocall’s callback solution is seen as an improvement over live chat and chatbots, which have great difficulty in converting website visitors to buyers for complex and expensive products. Businesses are losing potential sales and an alternative solution is needed to address the challenges of converting customers in a digital age. The Singapore-based startup’s call automation and attribution platform provides that solution with its click-to-call, call scheduling and call tracking capabilities.
