2023 was an exciting year for us at Kovai.co, as we achieved SOC2Type2 compliance, relaunched our fastest-growing product, Document360 2.0, expanded our management team and welcomed new members to our growing organisation. Despite global uncertainties, including increasing interest rates, job losses, and funding winters, all our products experienced growth in both sales and revenue.
We focused on what worked well for us and concentrated our efforts on those areas. Serverless360 gained significant traction, with more leads converting to customers. Our youngest product, Churn360 started acquiring customers from almost every continent.
With all our products experiencing consistent traction and growth in customers and revenue, we remain on track to triple our 2021 ARR of $10 million by the end of 2025.
Internally, it was a year of learning, growth, new experiences, and fun through multiple events.
2023 Business Goals
At the start of 2023, our business goals were to keep things simple—amplify, speed, and high performance. We aimed to identify everything that worked for us in 2022, be consistent with them, strengthen them, and double down our efforts on them. We also aimed to act fast and perform at the highest level, keeping our minds on the long-term goal of achieving an ARR of $100 million by 2030 and becoming Coimbatore’s first SaaS unicorn.
Company-wise, we targeted achieving SOC2Type2 compliance, a requirement for many of our global clients hosting confidential information on our platforms. We had been working on the process for close to 18 months.
Product-wise, all four of our products—Document360, Serverless360, BizTalk360, and Churn360—were already generating revenue. We set a realistic target for all products to increase their revenue by 20%.
Last year, we set objectives for each product.
- Document360: Our objective was to enhance the product further making it one with an elegant design, seamless UI/UX, and exceptional speed. Additionally, we set up an outbound sales channel and sponsored/participated in key events.
- BizTalk360 and Serverless360: Merging the product teams, we planned to invest efforts in building new features and enhancements based on customer feedback. Marketing-wise, we ramped up efforts on successful channels from the previous year.
- Churn360: The focus was on bringing as many integrations as possible, acquiring new customers, and achieving product-market fit.
- Integrate2023: Our flagship event for BizTalk360 and Serverless360 was conducted again, featuring an amazing lineup of speakers and sessions on crucial topics.
Accomplishment of Goals
Despite economic challenges in the West, which forms almost 40% of our customer base, we achieved our target in 2023. Our revenues grew by 20%, putting us well on track for our short-term and long-term goals. Most importantly, we achieved SOC2Type2 compliance—a certification verifying the means we implemented to safeguard customer data and processes.
For Document360, we achieved our objective in a transformative manner by rebuilding the product from scratch. In November, we launched Document360 2.0, a game-changer in the industry with revolutionary generative AI capabilities, including our in-built AI assistant, Eddy.
While BizTalk360 continued its pattern of four major feature and improvement releases, Serverless360 achieved a significant growth of 40% in terms of customers and revenue. The product also matured further with the launch of a popular module—the cost analyzer.
2023 was a defining year for Churn360, gaining its first customers from across the globe and achieving product-market fit.
Key Performance Indicators and Results
Our company’s emphasis has always gone beyond numbers. Despite recording an increase in customers and revenues, being customer-obsessed, we consider their feedback as a primary indicator of growth.
We receive testimonials, stories, and reports from customers across our products on how they have helped make business operations more efficient and seamless, reduced the cost of operation, assisted in customer acquisition efforts, reduced churn, and facilitated self-service. Eddy and generative AI features in Document360 are making a significant impact among our customers.
One of our customers CTERA’s Chief Technology Officer and CEO’s reaction when they first saw how Eddy functions was
“Wow! This is exactly what we are looking to do!”
We are also continuing to receive multiple testimonials on how Document360 has literally transformed the way customers and their customers have begun viewing and using documentation. All our products were rated as leaders in their respective categories by top review sites like G2 and Capterra.
New Marketing Initiatives Introduced
We hosted our flagship event, Integrate 2023, the largest Microsoft integration conference globally, for the 12th time this year. More than 650 Microsoft integration enthusiasts attended. For the first time, we allowed people to purchase sessions for on-demand viewing, absorbing major Azure updates.
Our product teams participated in events throughout the year to stay attuned to our main user group’s pain points. Document360 sponsored MegaComm 2023 in Jerusalem, Israel, and participated in TCworld, Stuttgart, unveiling massive AI advancements. Additionally, we also introduced a partner program for Document360, tying up with some of the well-known software product resellers across the globe.
Churn360 collaborated with NASSCOM for an event in Chennai and hosted a customer success meetup in Bangalore. We also launched Document360’s new partner program, attracting SaaS product resellers to become partners.
Cultivating a Fun and Learning Culture
Internally, we had a year filled with fun events and training sessions. For the first time, Kovai.co launched the Kovai Premier League, involving cricket, carrom, and badminton tournaments. Our annual day celebration had a theme of unwinding and rewinding, introducing a rewards and recognition program.
We also provided training opportunities for manager-level executives through workshops like Communicraft and Empower360, positively impacting our work culture. Our 12-year journey was celebrated with 34 individuals recognized for excellence within the organization.
Wrapping up
Our focus for 2024 is to expand further and expedite the growth of our primary products—Serverless360, Document360, and Churn360, marking another stride toward attaining our short-term objective of reaching $30 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) by 2025. We remain committed to strategic hiring for key positions, fostering sustainable team growth. With a dedication to enhancing the work environment and employee benefits, we will meticulously analyze our employee feedback to make the required changes to ensure the well-being of our workforce.
