Micro-Enterprise VoIP provider raises another round of funding
RingCentral, the SOHO and micro-enterprise focussed service provider, has raised $24 million through two rounds of funding within the last six months. It announced its second round yesterday. The company serves over 50,000 SOHO/micro-enterprise customers. I have so far covered three other service providers in this category: Toktumi, Phone.com, and Vocalocity.
According to RingCentral, customer acquisition costs and churn are low, which is why top-tier venture capitalists are interested in RingCentral.
The company is also able to save some dollars sourcing equipment, since it uses its in-house developed virtual PBX platform. The in-house solution has helped the company take advantage of custom integration opportunities building APIs for strategic engagements. The company’s platform enables it to lead with a virtual service and then upgrade customers to VoIP over time. It allows customers to use their existing phones and is a more customer-friendly model than the other hosted PBX options that require customers to start replacing CPE right away.
Most of RingCentral’s market development to date has been through word of mouth, and through search engine marketing on terms such as "Internet phone system" and "virtual phone system". The company also reaches customers through marketing partnerships with other small business service providers such as VistaPrint. The kind of businesses that RingCentral has so far found traction in include consulting, real-estate, small retail, e-commerce, construction, professional offices, home offices and film productions.
Although the company’s focus is to sell direct, it is also doing strategic integrations with large channel partners and international carrier partners such as BT.
