Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firm Chargebee has acquired Trainn, a SaaS start-up that creates hyper-personalised videos for customer training purposes.
This is Chargebee’s second acquisition in recent months, and it also acquired payment platform Inai Technologies. While the financial details of both deals remain undisclosed, sources note that deal sizes of both together could be in the “double-digit millions” range. Chargebee, Trainn and Inai are all Chennai-based software firms.
Founded in 2021 by Vivek Natarajan and Sumana Abirami Ammaiyappan, both former employees of Chargebee, Trainn is an AI-powered video creation platform to create personalised videos that customers can use for product training and knowledge transfer within their organisations.
Trainn has only raised around $700,000 (around ₹5 crore then) back in 2022 in a round led by Speciale Invest, and sources say that it is a “lucrative outcome” for all those involved. Trainn’s 200+ customers will continue to be served and will continue with Chargebee.
“We are excited about the benefits this deal brings to Chargebee on the customer support front. Particularly, Trainn’s team is AI-native and their understanding of AI in building their product will be of great value to us as the 15-member team joins us,” Chargebee co-founder and CEO Krish Subramanian told businessline. While a few of Trainn’s team will work on customer support initiatives of Chargebee, Trainn’s Vivek and others will work on AI strategies with Chargebee’s CTO.
Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at Speciale Invest, the lead investor in Trainn said that this marks Speciale’s 5th M&A since 2020. “Today, Trainn stands testament to creating value for 200 customers and value for its team, founders and investors by building capital efficiently, with a small pre-seed round,” he said.
With regard to questions on whether a slew of M&As in SaaS suggest stress in the sector, Chargebee’s Subramanian noted it was likely a result of every category within SaaS getting hyper-competitive and boiled down to founders’ strategies for the future and did not relate to the threat of AI.
