Website: https://www.gupshup.ai/
Gupshup is a privately held conversational AI and messaging platform operated by Webaroo Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company provides businesses with a carrier-grade Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) and conversational AI suite spanning marketing, commerce, and customer support use cases across more than 30 messaging and voice channels. It operates primarily in emerging markets including India, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as in the United States and Europe.
Gupshup operates in the conversational AI and CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) categories. Its core commercial offering, branded the Conversation Cloud, provides businesses with tools to acquire, engage, convert, and support customers across messaging channels including WhatsApp, RCS, SMS, voice, and social messaging platforms [1]. The platform supplies a unified messaging API covering 30+ channels, an AI-powered bot and agent builder, campaign management tooling, and commerce workflows such as in-chat product catalogs and transaction support [7]. Industries served include banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), retail and e-commerce, healthcare, edtech, and automotive [3]. In April 2026, Gupshup launched Superagent, an autonomous AI agent positioned as a full-stack orchestrator that can design campaigns, build customer journeys, provision messaging infrastructure, and self-optimize outcomes from a conversational interface [10].
Gupshup was founded in 2004 by Beerud Sheth, Milind R. Agarwal, and Rakesh Mathur as an SMS network in India; it is legally incorporated as Webaroo Inc. [3][8]. The company developed a consumer messaging app called Teamchat in 2014 before pivoting to an enterprise-focused model [7]. In 2015 a multi-channel bot platform launched, and in 2016 Gupshup introduced APIs for Slack, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger [3]. Early institutional funding included a round from Helion Venture Partners, Globespan Capital Partners, and CRV in 2011 [5]. In April 2021, a Series F round of $100 million led by Tiger Global Management valued the company at $1.4 billion, granting it unicorn status; an additional $240 million was raised in July 2021, with investors including Fidelity Management, Neuberger Berman, and Think Investments [3][4][5]. Gupshup subsequently acquired five companies between September 2021 and June 2022: Dotgo (RCS messaging, September 2021), Knowlarity (cloud telephony and voice AI, February 2022), Active.ai (conversational banking AI, April 2022), AskSid (retail/e-commerce conversational AI, April 2022), and OneDirect (omnichannel agent support, June 2022) [6][9][11]. Tracxn data records a most recent funding event in July 2025 [2].
Gupshup is categorized by CB Insights as a conversational engagement platform providing customer lifecycle tools within the messaging industry, and by G2 under Bot Platforms, Conversational Support Software, and CPaaS Platforms [12][13]. The company reports processing 10 billion messages per month for more than 50,000 businesses across 100+ countries as of its April 2026 product announcement [10]. Notable documented customers include Citibank, Unilever, Khan Academy, Netflix, Flipkart, Ola, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, and Zomato [8][9]. Gupshup holds recognition as WhatsApp Partner of the Year for 2023 and 2024, per an AWS Marketplace listing [14]. The company has been identified by Infobip trade press as a primary regional competitor in the Indian market for WhatsApp API services [15]. Its last disclosed peak valuation was $1.4 billion (April 2021); investor Fidelity subsequently marked down its stake by 65% as of December 2024, valuing the company at approximately $486 million at that time [6].
PitchBook and CB Insights list Kore.ai, Infobip, Yellow.ai, Kaleyra, and Route Mobile among Gupshup's direct competitors in the conversational AI and CPaaS space [1][12]. G2 reviewer data identifies Wati, Freshchat, Twilio, and Plivo as platforms most commonly evaluated alongside Gupshup, with Wati rated 4.6/5 (484 reviews) versus Gupshup's 4.4/5 (66 reviews) on the same platform [13]. Trade-press comparisons position Gupshup as enterprise- and developer-oriented—focused on WhatsApp, conversational bots, and high-volume messaging in high-growth markets—in contrast to Twilio's broader developer-first API approach and Infobip's global enterprise omnichannel infrastructure [15][16]. SleekFlow analysis characterizes Gupshup as suited to enterprise teams with developer resources building custom WhatsApp, SMS, and RCS infrastructure, and notes that its usage-based pricing model (per message) creates different economics than subscription-based alternatives [16]. Inc42 also lists Zendesk and Yalo among reported competitors [9].