Servify Raises $65 Mn In New Round; Aims, For IPO In Two Years

Servify, a company that manages lifecycle of devices for several smartphone vendors in many markets, on Wednesday said it has raised USD 65 million (around Rs 520 crore) in a round led by Singularity Growth Opportunity Fund. The startup, which serves global brands like Samsung and Apple, has raised the money at a valuation which is just under USD 1 billion, its founder Sreevathsa Prabhakar told PTI, adding that it would have achieved the 'unicorn' status after this round itself, if not for a few challenging conditions set by investors.

It has consciously raised money from domestic investors in this round because it aims to go public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the next 18-24 months, he said. Investors in the new round include family offices like that of Pidilite, and also existing investors like Iron Pillar, BEENEXT, Blume Ventures, and DMI Sparkle Fund, he said, adding there is a possibility of it raising another USD 5-7 million in the next month to close the round at USD 70 million.

Prabhakar said the six-year-old company is currently delivering an annual revenue run rate of over USD 130 million and will turn profitable in the next two months. Hence, there was no need of capital per se, but the round got done with the ultimate aim of listing in mind, he said, adding the listing will happen once it is profitable for over 15 months. Right now, 60 per cent of its revenue comes from domestic market and the rest from overseas market, he said.

In the next two years, international revenues will be 90 per cent of the pie as it takes the network to more countries and deepens its reach in the 40 countries that it operates in. The company gets annuity income either from end-consumers or equipment manufacturers like Samsung and Apple to service a product during its lifecycle, and depends a lot on data mining and tech tools. Prabhakar said it has data on 750 million customers and called it one of its biggest assets which is monetised, as the company uses it to better its understanding of usage patterns, maintenance events etc to underwrite better and widen its margins.

It had obligations to serve 4.8 million consumers as of end-FY22 and sees the same rising to over 10 million by end of the current fiscal, Prabhakar said, adding that it is doing 3.4 million transactions a month. "Product protection is no longer an afterthought; in fact, it is rapidly taking centre stage for both OEMs and consumers. We, therefore, see Servify steadily moving towards global leadership in this massive addressable market of over USD 100 billion," Apurva Patel, a managing director at Singularity, said.

(PTI)