Cisco chairman John Chambers invests in Uniphore

John Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 1, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake - RC15D2A77540

Speech analytics software company Uniphore today said Cisco Executive Chairman John Chambers has picked up 10 per cent stake in the company.

While the Chennai-based company did not disclose the amount of funding, it said existing investors including IDG Ventures also participated in the series B round.

"While John's monetary investment is certainly important for the company, it is his vast and varied experience building a globally leading IT company that adds incalculable value to Uniphore", Uniphore Software Systems co-founder and CEO Umesh Sachdev told reporters here.

This is Chambers' first investment outside the US. He has made the investment in his personal capacity.

"The company was able to foresee the growing need for deep technology in the area of speech recognition and has innovated ahead of market to capture this significant opportunity," Chambers said.

Uniphore will use the funds for research to drive product enhancement, upgrade customer service infrastructure, talent acquisition and expand sales to new geographies.

Uniphore's investors include Infosys co-founder S Gopalakrishnan, Indian Angel Network, YourNest Angel Fund and Ray Stata.

It works with over 70 enterprises and reaches over four million end users.