Genesys, a customer experience orchestration company, has announced a $580 million round of funding to accelerate the company's leadership in the Experience as a Service market globally.

Salesforce Ventures led the round with participation from other investors, including ServiceNow Ventures, Zoom Video Communications, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, D1 Capital Partners and a large US-based West Coast mutual fund manager. This offering values Genesys at $21 billion.

"Two years ago, we saw the challenge businesses faced in meeting the expectations of consumers and employees around digital experiences," says Genesys CEO and chairman, Tony Bates.

"We realised we had an opportunity to transform not only our company but the overall industry. We believe this fundraise, including raising from leading strategic investors, validates the achievements we have made to date and will accelerate our continuing efforts to expand and realise the vast Experience as a Service (EaaS) market opportunity ahead."

Over the last two years, the company has undergone a significant transformation across its leadership, business model, solution portfolio and ecosystem, which it says has resulted in strong growth.

Genesys cloud and subscription bookings, making up more than 90% of total new bookings, grew more than 100% year-over-year in the first half of the fiscal year 2022 (February 1, 2021, to July 31, 2021).

The company has also introduced the industry's first multi-cloud architecture, delivered several hundred innovations across its customer experience platforms, released a new workforce engagement solution and launched the Genesys DXTM solution, a conversational AI and digital experience product targeted at new sales and marketing audiences.

Genesys says the acquisitions also further enhanced its capabilities in AI and Experience orchestration.

"Customer expectations continue to rise exponentially around personalised, empathetic, and connected experiences," says Salesforce EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures, John Somorjai.

"We believe our investment in Genesys will not only help accelerate the company's success but the success of our joint customers. This announcement reflects the company's ongoing commitment to enhance its ecosystem through new and expanded strategic alliances, most recently with Google Cloud."

Genesys has also introduced initiatives for system integrators, channel partners, technology partners and independent consultants that provide them with a programmatic path to business as part of the ecosystem.

Somorjai says close to 7,000 organisations worldwide, including 17 of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies, now deliver customer or employee experiences with Genesys.

"Given the strength of the Genesys cloud offerings, ecosystem and customer momentum, the strategic investments highlight the commercial opportunities for new use cases, new industries, new buyers and new geographies," he says.