Respond.io Raises $62.5M for AI-Powered Messaging App, Eyes Global Expansion
Malaysia-based Respond.io, a messaging app that uses AI to manage customer conversations across multiple platforms, has secured significant funding and is looking to expand its reach.
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In 2017, Respond.io set out to solve a simple problem: Businesses couldn’t keep up with customers who had moved to messaging apps. Today, the startup, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, has become one of the tech success stories of Malaysia.
Respond.io recently raised a $62.5 million Series B round led by Camber Partners, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and existing investors. The company has grown to $35 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), growing 169% year-over-year at a 30% profit margin.
Co-founder and CEO Gerardo Salandra, who worked at IBM and Google before joining Runtastic, a fitness tracking app that was sold to Adidas in 2015, founded Respond.io alongside Hassan Ahmed (CTO) and Iaroslav Kudritskiy (COO). The team relocated the business to Malaysia two years later.
The platform helps mid- to large-sized B2C businesses drive revenue from customer conversations across multiple messaging channels, including WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Messenger, Line, Telegram, WeChat, voice calls, and web chat. It also uses AI agents to automatically handle high volumes of customer inquiries, qualify leads, and close sales without human intervention.
Sandra described its core customers as “high-consideration” businesses, where customers need to talk to someone before buying, such as healthcare, automotive, retail, education, and travel.
