Large-scale and mid-sized enterprises and businesses are increasingly adopting — and offering — software-as-a-service platforms as they seek to increase their revenue and parlay their growth into greater efficiency. Now a young startup, Emitrr, is aiming to bring the benefits of this model to small and local businesses in the U.S. Emitrr claims to help small businesses by automating tasks such as appointment reminders and review generations. On Tuesday, the startup, led by two Indian co-founders, announced that it raised $4 million in a Pre-Series A round to widen its automation solution in the U.S. market.
Bengaluru-headquartered Chiratae Ventures led Emitrr’s funding round, which also drew participation from Venture Highway, FortyTwo VC and Axilor Ventures.
“We essentially are a business text messaging software and an automation software for local businesses in the U.S.,” said Anmol Oberoi, founder of Emitrr, in an interview with TechCrunch.
Emitrr, founded by Oberoi and his partner Pulkit Gambhir in December 2020, claims that that over 150 local businesses in the U.S. use its platform. These businesses range from single-location healthcare practices to multi-location home service companies. The startup also has some small business clients in Australia and Canada.
Anmol Oberoi (left) and Pulkit Gambhir (right)
The Delaware-based startup is catering to the global markets and has no customers in India, but it employs a team of 25 people — most of whom work remotely from tier-two and tier-three cities — in the South Asian market.
Emitrr works with over a thousand of vertical CRM platforms that local companies often use to solve customer management operations. Oberoi said that Emitrr has so far built seven to eight different automation models that work over the short messaging service (SMS).
Local healthcare centers, dentists and home service providers can use these automation models to send their customers appointment reminders and follow-ups on services for feedback and reviews. Oberoi told TechCrunch that while Emitrr is targeting healthcare and home services heavily, it has started getting customers from real estate, salons, restaurants and other different verticals.
It’s remarkable that Emitrr is using traditional text messages over WhatsApp for its tasks. Oberoi said that people in many markets including the U.S., Australia and Canada still prefer to use SMSs over any third-party offerings, but added that it’s within reach for the startup to quickly adopt WhatsApp or any other instant messaging service onto the platform.
Emitrr brings automation to business communication
“Our platform can be used by any local business in the world,” he said. “We automate the tasks performed by receptionists that sit in the dental office and the front desk executive that sits in the restaurant.”
Since Emitrr sends and receives messages to customers directly from businesses, it often processes sensitive information. Oberoi said that there is system-wide encryption to ensure the security and safety of data the platform processes.
“Both our inbound and outbound text messages are completely …read more