From left: Velaris Co-Founder and COO José Fernández-Castaño and Velaris Co-Founder and CEO Dilanka Kalutota

Velaris, a UK-based tech start-up with routes to Sri Lanka, has raised US $ 4.7 million to enhance its AI-driven customer success platform, as it aims to accelerate plans to launch and expand its international presence.

The start-up developed a pioneering customer success platform for B2B tech companies and has been able to disrupt the customer success market by filling a specific market gap.

The fresh investment was led by one of the pioneering venture capital firms Octopus, followed by Zaka and Fintech 365.

In a statement to the media, Velaris said the capital would be utilised to add a machine learning-led layer to the platform, thereby allowing B2B tech companies to better understand their customers, strengthen relationships and retain and expand their business with them through data-driven decisions. The start-up also aims to develop R&D and boost further expansion in London, Madrid and Sri Lanka.

“We are incredibly excited to have raised this capital. The seed round will enable us to launch our intelligence layer and gain a unique position within the market to be the first AI-led customer success platform,” said Velaris Co-Founder and CEO Dilanka Kalutota.

Velaris will serve the entire organisation enabling horizontal growth in other teams and becoming the single source of truth for customer data. 

Since the vast majority of our development team is based in Sri Lanka, Kalutota said he believes such projects would not only support Sri Lanka but would also inspire brilliant homegrown minds.

Co-Founder and COO José Fernández-Castaño pointed out that by understanding the economic landscape, customer success teams are uniquely positioned to help their companies weather the downturn through retention and expansion of the existing revenues.

“We’re thrilled to now enable CS teams with a truly innovative and game-changing solution. With Octopus Ventures’ belief in Velaris, we’re able to democratise customer experience data and empower CS teams to have a greater impact across the company,” said Castaño. 

As the uncertain economic climate extends across the globe, experts believe that customer satisfaction will continue to prove essential for business survival. The COVID-19 pandemic also drove home the message that retaining and expanding the existing customers, rather than focusing on new sales, should be the main priority for all organisations faced with increasing budget cuts and slowing or stagnant growth.