Emitrr raises $4 million to expand its automation offering for local businesses

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.“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.

“We have a single tenant architecture, so if a compromise happens, even in that case, the compromise will just happen for one customer — not for the hundreds of customers we have,” Oberoi said.

Emitrr is not alone in selling automation platforms for business communication. Companies including Weave and Podium operate in the same space and are targeting small businesses.

Oberoi claimed that Emitrr has a cost advantage over the competition and can identify many problems that its key competitors are not solving in the market. “Primarily, it’s the product and support which is where we can take away customers from Weave and Podium,” he said.

“Pulkit and Anmol bring deep domain knowledge and we are glad to partner with them in their growth journey of building and offering real-world applicability and practical use cases solutions,” said Venkatesh Peddi, managing director and partner, Chiratae Ventures, in a statement.

Prior to the new round, Emitrr had raised about $495,000 from Venture Highway, Axilor Ventures and some angel investors.

“Small and local businesses like your local dentist or a parlor, in the U.S. and across the world have a unique set of challenges, including the lack or very low digitization of customer-facing workflows,” said Samir Sood, founding partner, Venture Highway. “The ability to maintain high service standards at low to no human touch, in the background of expensive labor, is a key problem waiting to be solved. The founders have unique insights on the space and have a clear vision on how to productize the entire customer-facing journey and elevate the customer experience for these businesses — Emitrr is building a ‘go-to’ solution,” Sood said.