Helping banks refine sales pitches and customer service, Minneapolis-based Total Expert raises $52 million

It’s no secret that the art of customer service in the modern era is something that banks desperately need help with.

One of the reasons challenger banks have been able to find acceptance, new customers and — well — the ability to challenge existing banking companies, is the mistreatment customers receive from their existing money holders.

That’s why tools designed to help marketing and customer engagement are a big business and why the Minneapolis-based Total Expert has been able to raise $52 million in its latest round of financing.

The new round brings the company’s total haul to $86 million thanks to capital investments from Georgian Partners, Emergence and Rally Ventures (all veteran software as a service investors).

“We are incredibly excited about Total Expert’s approach to building trust and maximizing the long-term value of relationships between consumers and lenders,” said Simon Chong, managing partner and co-founder of Georgian Partners, in a statement. “The future of consumer finance is engaging across all product and customer needs during their financial life, and Total Expert is the category leader powering this humanized automation and compliance at scale.”

The company said it will use the money to expand on its 218 person team — especially hiring additional data scientists and designers. The company also said it would accelerate the development of new automation tools to help small banks and credit unions compete.

“The future of financial services belongs to firms that combine human interaction with technology in a way that creates higher quality and more relevant experiences throughout the entire customer journey,” said Joe Welu, Total Expert’s chief executive officer. “Every interaction a consumer has with a financial services brand either erodes trust or builds trust, and legacy technology makes it difficult to deliver on the expectations of the modern consumer. Our mission is to ensure that banks and lenders create customers for life by delivering on these expectations”