Customer engagement and user retention platform, Clevertap has appointed Sidharth Malik as its global CEO.
Malik was previously with Freshworks serving as its chief revenue officer until October last year and then was named the chairman of Freshworks India. Before this, he was the India managing director at Akamai Technologies. Malik has also had stints at Microsoft, IBM and Salesforce.
He has led teams with more than 1,500 members across sales, marketing, customer success, HR, finance and operations at multiple prior roles in his career, CleverTap cofounder Sunil Thomas said in an official blogpost.
Thomas, who was serving as the chief executive of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup until now, said he will be taking on the role of an executive chairman to focus on long-term strategic direction and initiatives. "In my new role, I will be supporting the management team in overall positioning and evangelism, inorganic growth, external stakeholder management and more," he said.
CleverTap's other cofounders Anand Jain and Suresh Kondamudi currently serve as chief product officer and chief technology officer respectively. In October, CleverTap also hired Vikrant Chowdhary as its first Chief Growth Officer to lead the startup's integrated go-to-market (GTM) strategy globally across all commercial and enterprise segments.
Started in 2013, CleverTap helps digital consumer brands to increase their customer retention and lifetime value. The firm offers a platform that combines analytics, segmentation, and engagement tools to enable these brands build valuable, long-term relationships with their customers.
It claims to have customers that represent over 10,000 apps across the world including Vodafone Idea, SonyLIV, Daimler, Gojek, Nykaa, Dream11, MX Player, and Pharmeasy. Thomas said these customers touch more than a billion people through CleverTap's platform.
In the blogpost, Thomas said they have clocked $45 million in annual recurring revenue in less than six years of monetization with 235% CAGR and 120% NRR (Net Revenue Retention). The company is profitable and cash flow positive with a 72% gross margin.
CleverTap also announced its first-ever acquisition on November 11 with the purchase of Patch, which enables businesses to brand and embed communication channels — including in-app voice, chat, and push notifications — directly into consumer apps. Patch's in-app calling makes two-way communication privacy-compliant, since there is no need to disclose the phone numbers of the caller or receiver or any personal data.
"The new capability will elevate the end-customer experience and empower brands and businesses globally to communicate with millions of their customers seamlessly. The Patch acquisition is strategic and significant because it positions CleverTap as the first and only marketing and retention platform to offer in-app telephony capabilities" Chowdhary said at the time of acquisition.
CleverTap is backed by prominent venture capital firms such as Sequoia India, Tiger Global, and Accel.It has more than 350 employees across 10 countries.
