LeadSquared, a provider of sales automation software as a service (SaaS), has raised $153 million (or approximately 1,194 crores) from WestBridge Capital in a Series C round, making it India’s newest unicorn.
“With this funding, we will increase our growth investments in India and North America, begin construction in APAC and EMEA, expand our product portfolio, and fund acquisitions. In the upcoming 18 months, we intend to double our headcount to support our growth “Nilesh Patel, the CEO and founder of LeadSquared, said.
Nilesh Patel, Prashant Singh, and Sudhakar Gorti founded LeadSquared in 2011. The company says it has more than 2,000 clients, including high-growth businesses in the edtech, higher education, financial services, healthcare, marketplaces, and other industries.
Nilesh, who founded Proteans before it was acquired by Symphony Teleca Corporation in 2010, brings his ten years of sales and marketing experience to the table. Before deciding to launch LeadSquared, Nilesh worked as Symphony’s Vice-President of Inside Sales following the company’s acquisition. Nilesh holds an engineering degree from Delhi University and worked for IBM for four years in their microprocessor test tools division prior to founding Proteans.
“From roughly $100 crore in 2020–21 to 200 crore in the financial year 2022, our revenue more than doubled. In the next five years, our goal is to raise our revenue to about 400 crores. Currently, we have 1,200 employees, but in the upcoming 18 months, that number will double “said Patel.
Prashant was the co-founder of Proteans before he co-founded LeadSquared, where he currently serves as the chief operating officer (COO). He graduated from IIT Delhi with a degree in computer science and mathematics. He was a member of numerous product development teams at Telesoft, i2 Technologies, and Oracle prior to founding Proteans.
LeadSquared’s co-founder and CPO Sudhakar is in charge of product design and development. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur is where Sudhakar earned his degree in electrical engineering. He worked in various software development positions at IBM, Talisma Corporation, and Oracle Software before starting Proteans.
Prior to this, LeadSquared raised $3 million during its Series A led by Stakeboat Capital in 2019 and $32 million during its Series B led by Gaja Capital in 2020. The business has developed an international CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform that takes the guesswork out of sales execution and puts efficiency at the center of every customer interaction.
