Two more signs of growth for B2X, a startup based out of Munich that is a little like a “Zendesk for smartphones” — creating solutions for handset makers and carriers so that customers can identify, report and fix problems with their devices.
The company has raised a further $15 million on a valuation that we understand is somewhere in the region of $300 million – $500 million. And it has made its first acquisition: The Service Solutions (TSS), a company based in India that works with companies like Apple to provide managed customer care services worldwide. It also has a retail presence in the country.
The terms of the TSS acquisition have not been disclosed but we understand that the price was just under $45 million. As part of the deal, TSS is getting rebranded as B2X.
“We couldn’t be happier to announce our funding and acquisition of TSS at the same time. The financing will help us to aggressively grow our engineering and sales efforts in response to the expanding demand for our Smart Service Platform,” said Thomas Berlemann, CEO of B2X Care Solutions, in a statement. “For us to be successful in India, we know that it will require very strong local capabilities. TSS is a rising star in India and their cloud based capabilities completes the B2X technology roadmap. In addition, the TSS leadership team has a strong background and is extremely well connected in our industry in India, which opens up great opportunities for future growth.”
B2X — full name B2X Care Solutions — has been in business since 2007, but it was only in 2012 that it raised its first round of funding, for an undisclosed amount, from Berlin-based investor Earlybird and Grazia Equity. Earlybird led this latest round, too.
If companies like Soundcloud and Spotify are some of the more recognisable names in the world of European startups, B2X is very much at the other end of the spectrum: squarely in the enterprise market, and very much under the radar, especially considering how well it is doing. Last year, when I was first introduced to the company, B2X was celebrating a very rapid stage of growth, going from $10 million in annual revenues to $400 million between 2010 and 2013.
And as the march of smartphones continues — there will be nearly 2.4 billion devices shipped this year, according to Gartner, and that’s before you start to count the number of devices already in use globally — the idea is that B2X and its competitors will continue to see more business as more and more consumers need help fixing problems, and handset makers and carriers outsource that work to others.