Kovai.co, the Software as a Service (SaaS) firm aims for unicorn status as it pursues a product-led growth path, said Saravana Kumar, the founder, and CEO of Kovai.co.
With a limited product portfolio, Kumar said the firm is working on a customer success product, one of the fastest-growing product segments in SaaS, and is due out this year.
“We see huge potential for this product. On its own, it can reach $50 million annual revenue,” he said. He estimated Kovai.co to reach unicorn status, a privately held company with a valuation of $1 billion or more, by 2030.
The London-based firm began by developing products for the Microsoft ecosystem, such as software for the technology giant’s Azure cloud platform, but has now expanded to develop standalone products in areas such as knowledge base software for enterprise products.
Kovai.co embarked on a consolidation drive to integrate some of its products under its flagship BizTalk360, primarily to focus on key markets.
The 11-year-old company, the Tamil name of the city – Coimbatore – from where it recruits the majority of its key personnel, reached $10 million in annual recurring revenue in 2020 and continues to expand rapidly.
The company’s impending entry into the customer success area will pit it against US-based unicorns like Gainsight and Totango, who have already made significant inroads.
Inquiries have been rising as the customer success industry becomes more widely known.
According to Gartner Research, inquiries for Customer Success Management platforms increased by 88% last year.
Customer success is a relatively recent segment of the SaaS industry.
It allows software firms to track usage, ease of use, the amount to which features and functionalities are used, and insights into why customers stop buying the product.
“It’s a pretty early-stage market. Worldwide, there are about 10-15 companies in the market,” said Kumar.
SaaS businesses have recently seen a correction in valuations, which Kumar believes can only benefit the industry in the long run by forcing a return to fundamentals and time-tested growth strategies.
SaaS enterprises have the potential to accomplish big revenue and valuation milestones on their own due to their great operating efficiencies and growth prospects, he added.
