Internal Customer Support Platforms Evolve: Simplifying Collaboration and Support

Internal customer support platforms are transitioning from email ticketing systems and chat to channels like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord. However, with Slack’s ability to host hundreds of channels, the setup can become unwieldy.

Plain, a UK-based company, believes it has a solution. Its API-first platform consolidates communication channels, allowing businesses to streamline their support.

Streamlining Support with Plain

According to Simon Rohrbach, CEO of Plain, “It means you can literally talk to your customers wherever they are,” he explained to TechCrunch in a call.

Plain not only provides chat and email support but also integrates with traditional help desk software like ZenDesk or Intercom, as well as popular collaboration channels like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Discord, through a single user interface.

Rohrbach also mentioned that Plain’s platform is “really fast to use” and that people “really love using it.” The platform includes all the traditional support functionality, metrics around SLAs, response times, and more.

Rohrbach highlighted the shift towards support working closely with customer success and engineering teams. Plain powers this internal collaboration as well.

Series A Funding and Expansion

Plain has secured $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Battery Ventures, with continued participation from Index Ventures and Connect Ventures.

The funding will be used to establish Plain’s first U.S. office in San Francisco.

Plain was founded by Rohrbach and Matt Vagni, both former employees of Deliveroo. The company’s customers include Sanity, Laravel, Stytch, and Raycast.

Market Commentary

Neeraj Agrawal, a general partner at Battery Ventures, stated, “B2B support is moving into this new era of collaboration and AI.”

However, Plain is not the only player in the market. U.S.-based companies like Thena and Pylon also offer solutions for aggregating customer support channels.

Pylon recently landed $17 million in investment to build a full-service B2B customer service platform, with customers including over 250 businesses.

Thena has raised over $7 million, with investors including Lightspeed and First Round Capital.