NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprinklr, Inc., the world’s most complete enterprise social technology, today announced the expansion of its global operations with the establishment of Sprinklr Japan KK, a joint venture. Sprinklr Japan, headquartered in Tokyo, allows Sprinklr to meet the growing demand for social media management among Japanese enterprises, as well as provide local support for Sprinklr’s numerous global clients with significant presence in Japan.
Sprinklr Japan is a joint venture between Sprinklr, as the majority shareholder, and PIPED BITS Co., Ltd. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 3831), Recruit Strategic Partners Co., Ltd., and Suneight Investment Co., Ltd. As part of the venture, PIPED BITS, Recruit, and Suneight have invested ¥1 billion in Series A funding in Sprinklr Japan.
- PIPED BITS Co., Ltd. is a Tokyo-based company engaged in information asset platform, media strategy, and e-commerce businesses in Japan. The lead investor in Sprinklr Japan, PIPED BITS has more than 10,000 accounts in almost every line of industries, including over 100 financial institutions, and powers the industry-leading platform as a service (PaaS) SPIRAL®.
- Recruit Strategic Partners Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Recruit Holdings (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6098) in Japan, is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that helps U.S. technology businesses launch in the Japanese Market. Recruit Strategic Partners portfolio companies include DocuSign, Rent the Runway, and Zazzle. Recruit Holdings’ funding has been made through its investment subsidiary Recruit Strategic Partners (PSP) Fund VI, LLC.
- Suneight is a venture capital firm located in Tokyo, established in 2004. The firm has invested in startups in various stages in Japan, the U.S., and Asia and provides strong support to expand the portfolio companies’ businesses in the Japanese market by leveraging its deep insights and extensive network. Its portfolio companies include Wikia, CrowdWorks, Spring REIT, Marvelous, BASE, and Tokyo Otaku Mode.
“The connected, empowered consumer is a universal transformation that requires a truly global solution. By 2016, the number of Facebook users in Japan is expected to reach 30.6 million,” said Ragy Thomas, CEO and founder of Sprinklr. “More than 200 of the world’s largest global public companies are headquartered in Japan. We are thrilled to expand to Japan and help these companies create social experiences that reduce costs, drive revenue, and increase engagement with their highly connected, mobile-centric customers.”
Today’s announcement comes just two weeks after Sprinklr announced an additional $46 million in new funding – at a valuation of more than $1 billion – and launched the Experience Cloud™. It also follows the company’s announced acquisition of online customer community platform Get Satisfaction, the company’s fifth acquisition in 14 months. The opening up of the Japanese market is Sprinklr’s second major international expansion. In 2013, Sprinklr established operations in Europe with the opening of a UK office, which was soon followed by the opening of Paris and Hamburg offices in 2014. The company now has offices in 10 countries and more than 750 employees globally.
“There is great market potential in Japan for a complete, integrated solution that provides enterprises with the ability to manage governance, compliance, and the customer journey across social media channels, brand websites, and devices,” noted Nobuaki Satani, founder and CEO of PIPED BITS. “Our investment in Sprinklr Japan allows us to locally provide a multi-channel solution for global customer experience management.”
Sprinklr Japan has aggressive growth plans and is hiring sales, marketing, customer success, and technology professionals. Sprinklr clients and prospective clients are invited to join leaders from Microsoft, Nissan, and Groupon for a Customer eXperience Management Summit hosted by Microsoft on Wednesday, April 22, 2015, to learn more about Sprinklr Japan and the enterprise social media technology’s Japanese market capabilities.
About Sprinklr
Sprinklr is the world’s most complete enterprise social technology, purpose-built for large companies to drive business outcomes and manage customer experiences across all touch points. Called "the most powerful technology in the market", Sprinklr's fully integrated social experience management software powers more than four billion social connections across 77 countries. Headquartered in New York City with more than 750 employees globally, Sprinklr is revolutionizing customer engagement for almost 800 of Fortune’s top enterprise brands, including IHG, Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, and Virgin America, and partners like Accenture, Havas, and Razorfish. For more information, visit sprinklr.com or tweet us at @sprinklr.
