Call centre software company Aircall in no rush for IPO as revenues rise

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

PARIS (Reuters) - Aircall, a call centre software company that has been valued at around $1 billion, said on Thursday it was in no rush for a stock market flotation, as it unveiled a new product to help smaller-sized businesses and added that its revenue had risen.

Aircall CEO and co-founder Olivier Pailhes said annual recurring revenue had increased to $130 million from $100 million a year ago, as it launched enhanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help small- and medium-sized companies generate phone call summaries.

The company has often been touted as a likely stock market candidate.

Pailhes said that while an initial public offering (IPO) remained an option, it was something the company could examine once it reached annual recurring revenue of $200 million, which Aircall hopes to achieve in the next 18 months.

"Internally, we talk a bit less about it. Within two years, we'll talk about it again, but we don't need to rush," said Pailhes, speaking via Zoom from Spain, regarding any stock market flotation plans.

Aircall, launched in Paris in 2014, is viewed as a success story from France's technology sector, although the company is now headquartered in New York.

"We have French origins but we want to think globally," Pailhes said. "To be a global leader, you have to be big in the United States."

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Bill Berkrot)