Customer experience startup RateIt raises US$5m in Series A round

SINGAPORE-HEADQUARTERED customer experience startup RateIt has raised US$5 million in a Series A round led by B2B (business-to-business) technology-focused venture capital firm Tin Men Capital.

The funds will be used to expand the real-time customer experience management platform's customer-facing and product development teams, deepen its operations and marketing in Singapore, and further its footprint in South-east Asia.

RateIt, founded by CEO Michael Momsen in Australia in 2016, has moved to Singapore in parallel with its Series A funding round. The company said it moved its headquarters here because of the current growth and future potential of the South-east Asia market.

The startup combines omnichannel microsurveys - brief surveys that can be done over a mobile device - with real-time sentiment analysis tools to provide businesses insights that help to improve customer experience.

It said it offers customers subscriptions from monthly to three-year agreements, with those who work with RateIt for over 12 months seeing the greatest, quantifiable benefits.

Well over half of its revenue comes from South-east Asia, where it has clients including SingPost, Adidas, Lego, Maybank, Singapore Zoo, Courts and PS Cafe.

The startup has doubled its revenue every year since commercial operations began in 2016.

RateIt said they chose Singapore-based Tin Men Capital as its newest investor due to its operating style of working on the ground and closely with startup founders.

It also sees strong synergies with Tin Men's portfolio of startups that are active in South-east Asia markets. RateIt plans to expand to Thailand and Malaysia.

Other RateIt investors include Wavemaker Partners, Koh Boon Hwee, PropertyGuru co-founder Steve Melhuish and principals from firms such as Alto Partners and TPG.

"We constantly hear how organisations are striving to become more customer-centric, but struggle to know if they are executing on that promise at every moment. RateIt's unique in-the-moment offering is a quick and easy way to listen to customers in a whole new way without the need for long annoying surveys that inevitably end up as long annoying powerpoint decks," said Mr Momsen.