CometChat, the Denver-based developer of a chat app that can be embedded into apps and websites, announced Tuesday that it raised $10 million in venture funding.
The oversubscribed Series A round was led by Signal Peak Ventures and included participation from existing investors Matchstick Ventures, Range Ventures, Unbound VC and others.
CometChat’s platform features text, voice and video chat functionality that can be installed into websites and apps across nearly any industry.
More than 50,000 developers use the platform, although the company has not done much marketing yet.
“As the digital world has realized, connecting users and creating community between users on their website or app is highly valuable,” Daniel Mitzner, the company’s chief marketing officer, told Built In. “As they start thinking about that, they recognize how complicated it is to build. We are an out-of-the-box solution that developers can plug in and add that functionality within a matter of minutes.”
CometChat is similar to the customer service chat windows that sometimes pop up on websites, but instead of allowing users to contact the company, it allows users to contact each other.
CometChat has seen increased demand due to virtual events during the pandemic. Other examples of how the platform can be put to use include a marketplace app, where buyers and sellers can discuss the details of a transaction. CometChat could also be embedded into a dating app for singles to chat, or on a ride-share app so drivers can contact passengers.
The platform is end-to-end encrypted, Mitzner said, and has been HIPAA-certified for healthcare use.
Another feature that CometChat hopes will differentiate it from competitors is the ability to install extensions to meet the functionality of various industries.
If a marketplace app wants to prevent users from conducting a transaction outside of the app, for example, CometChat has created a phone-masking extension to automatically block out phone numbers.
CometChat was founded by brothers Anant Garg and Anuj Garg. They developed a similar chat application in India, Mitzner said, but they decided they could better grow and scale the company as a SaaS company in the U.S.
The brothers came to Boulder for the Techstars accelerator program in 2019, and then raised $2.5 million in seed funding.
They have grown the company to 80 employees, most of whom live in India. About 10 employees live in the Denver area and work out of a coworking space at Galvanize.
With its fresh funding, the company plans to hire more Colorado-based employees, including marketing, sales, customer support and product.
