Gupshup raises $60M in equity and debt, leaves unicorn status hanging | TechCrunch

Gupshup, a business messaging startup that began its journey in India over two decades ago and became a unicorn four years ago, has raised a new over $60 million round — but is keeping its new valuation under wraps.

In 2021, Gupshup raised two funding rounds within four months, securing $340 million from prominent investors including Tiger Global, Fidelity Management, Think Investments, and Malabar Investments. These rounds — the startup’s first in roughly a decade — valued Gupshup at $1.4 billion. However, Fidelity, which led the round following its unicorn milestone, slashed its internal valuation of the startup at least three times between 2023 and 2024, bringing it down to as low as $486 million.

The new funding round, which combines equity and debt financing from Globespan Capital Partners and EvolutionX Debt Capital, aims to help the San Francisco-headquartered startup expand its presence across its high-growth markets, including India, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa.

The startup would not reveal the exact debt portion although its founder and CEO Beerud Seth told TechCrunch that the equity part is “a little more than half.”

In 2004, Gupshup — derived from Indian slang meaning “conversations” — started as a platform to help businesses connect with their customers through text messages. It gained popularity as text messages were not free at the time, and people were seeking ways to send messages to their friends and community groups. However, as communication shifted from short messaging service (SMS) to WhatsApp and Rich Communication Services (RCS), the startup moved to these avenues with its chatbot services. Now, as AI has become a catchall term, and AI agents — software that can perform specific tasks on behalf of users — have emerged everywhere, Gupshup has started enabling businesses to deploy agents.

“There’s a lot of demand coming from enterprises. Everybody needs to build these AI agents, which work through messaging like RCS and WhatsApp or through voice. So, building out these agents, there’s huge demand, and we need to support it,” Seth said.

Globally, AI agents are gaining traction, with startups building them drawing strong investor interest. Tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are also exploring how to bring more of these agents to users through their own platforms. The result: competition is heating up.

Gupshup does not view the rising competition as a threat. Seth pointed to the startup’s substantial install base — which exceeds 50,000 customers across more than 100 countries — and its track record of product innovation, driven by years of experience in business messaging, strategic acquisitions, and internal R&D.

“Businesses cannot use simple foundation models off the shelf and just put them in front of customers. They need a lot of customization to be done, and that’s where Gupshup comes in. That’s what we provide,” he noted.

Since its last round in July 2021, the startup “tripled” its revenue and grew its profitability, Sheth said. However, it is unclear whether that resulted in an increased valuation, as, he said, this latest round was not priced.

“As a founder, you focus on value, and the valuation will follow,” Seth said when asked whether he still considers the startup a unicorn. “We operate ourselves like we are going to be a big company.”

Alongside expanding geographically, the startup aims to utilize its fresh funding to enhance its products, which are used in industries including automotive, banking, e-commerce, fintech, media, payments, retail, and travel. Its products also include click-to-chat ads, an AI campaign copilot, agent assist, and campaign manager.

Gupshup claims to power over 120 billion messages annually for thousands of enterprises. Looking ahead, the startup sees an IPO as its next major milestone.

“We’re talking to all our advisors, lawyers, bankers, accountants, and so on, to figure this out,” Seth said.

The startup has no specific timeline for its public listing, although Seth told TechCrunch that it could happen in 18–24 months.

Gupshup is exploring whether it should list on Indian stock exchanges — a move that makes strategic sense, as the startup views India, where WhatsApp dominates, as a more favorable market. Among the reasons: it’s easier to communicate its story to local retail investors, who are more familiar with WhatsApp and understand how Gupshup’s products, including its AI agents, operate within the platform. However, since Gupshup is domiciled in the U.S., a flip to India would trigger tax liabilities, which could require additional funding.

The IPO “is the one thing that we don’t control entirely. The calendar depends as much on external factors as it does on the company,” Seth said.