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Afiniti

AI contact-center softwareBermuda/USA
New to Unitard
💀 Dead / Bankrupt
Peak $1.6 BillionToday
~-100%
from peak
  1. 🦄
    Became a unicorn
    Apr 2017
  2. 📈
    Peak valuation
    $1.6 Billion ’17
  3. 💔
    Became a Unitard
    Sep 2024
  4. 💸
    Last valuation
    Wiped out
Capital raised
$307M
Total raised
$46.2K/day
Raised per day

Total raised averaged per day over approximately 18.2 years from founding to bankruptcy or shutdown. This is not measured cash burn. Methodology

Funding: Sum of disclosed rounds: $26.5M Series C and $130M Series D incl. debt (TechCrunch, Oct 2018) plus $150M Vista Credit Partners loan (July 2020)
Current status
Bermuda provisional liquidation (JPLs sought Sept 19, 2024); court-sanctioned sale of substantially all assets to lender-majority-owned Afiniti Newco Holdings (sanctioned Nov 20, 2024; Chapter 15 recognition Nov 27; closed Dec 3, 2024); old equity received nothing; business operating under lender ownership

The rise & fall

10 moments · 2006–2025

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

2006
Founded by Zia Chishti
Afiniti sets out to use AI to match call-center customers with the agents most likely to make a sale; it later runs from Washington, D.C.
VentureBeat
Apr 14 ’17
The peak: valued at $1.6B after an $80M round$1.6B
GAM, McKinsey & Co and The Resource Group join a fourth round; VentureBeat reports a confidential IPO filing.
VentureBeat
Oct 23 ’18
$130M Series D, again at $1.6B
The round is $75M of cash and $60M of debt; the CEO says it values the company at $1.6B as it raises privately instead of listing.
TechCrunch
Jul 2020
$150M loan from Vista Credit Partners
Vista's credit arm is administrative agent and sole lender on the financing.
Global Fintech Series
Aug 12 ’24
Adviser values the business at $275M-$350M$350M
Teneo Financial Advisory's going-concern range sits against about $565M of total debts, most of it secured.
Supreme Court of Bermuda
Sep 19 ’24
Provisional liquidation in Bermuda — joins the Unitard Club 💔
Two days after signing a restructuring deal with its secured lenders, Afiniti applies for joint provisional liquidators to carry it out.
Supreme Court of Bermuda
Nov 20 ’24
Court sanctions sale to a lender-owned company
Substantially all assets go to Afiniti Newco Holdings, majority-owned by the secured lenders; the court finds shareholders get nothing in any alternative.
Supreme Court of Bermuda
Dec 3 ’24
Deal closes after U.S. Chapter 15 recognition
A Delaware court recognizes the Bermuda case on Nov 27 and approves the transfer of U.S. assets; the deal closes Dec 3.
ElevenFlo
Feb 2025
New CEO under lender ownership
Jerome Kapelus replaces Hassan Afzal; Vista Credit Partners' president chairs the board.
CX Today
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2021–25
Glassdoor ratings slipped from 3.9 in 2021 to 3.4 in 2024–25. Reviewers, many in Pakistan, praised pay and colleagues but cited long hours, repeated layoffs, stalled raises and bonuses, politics and unclear direction.
$1.6Bof peak value erased · 18 years

💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

Afiniti sold AI software that pairs call-center callers with the agents most likely to close a sale, taking a share of the extra revenue. Zia Chishti founded it around 2006, and it ran from Washington, D.C. VentureBeat reported in April 2017 that an $80M round valued it at $1.6B, a figure the company repeated when it closed a $130M Series D in October 2018.

By mid-2024 the group owed about $565M, and its adviser valued the business at $275M to $350M. Provisional liquidators appointed in Bermuda that September sold substantially all its assets to a new company majority-owned by its secured lenders. The court, which sanctioned the sale on November 20, 2024, found shareholders would receive nothing in any alternative. Afiniti keeps operating under lender ownership.

Source: VentureBeat (Apr 14, 2017): $80M fourth round (GAM, McKinsey & Co, The Resource Group) valued Afiniti at $1.6B; TechCrunch (Oct 23, 2018): $130M Series D ($75M cash, $60M debt) that the CEO said values the company at $1.6B (company-stated, no investor post-money disclosed). Global Fintech Series (July 2020): $150M debt financing, Vista Credit Partners sole lender. In the Matter of Afiniti Ltd [2024] SC (Bda) 65 Civ (Supreme Court of Bermuda, Nov 20, 2024): group indebtedness about $508.7M plus about $55.9M unsecured, total about $565M (para 23); Teneo Financial Advisory, engaged by the company, put going-concern enterprise value at $275M-$350M as of Aug 12, 2024 (paras 24, 27, 86); shareholders and unsecured creditors receive nothing in any alternative (paras 29, 88); sale under Companies Act 1981 s.175 to Afiniti Newco Holdings LLC, majority-owned by secured lenders, with a ~$225M first-lien and $298.7M convertible second-lien tranche (paras 56-62). ElevenFlo docket summary (D. Del. 24-12539): Chapter 15 filed Nov 3, 2024; recognition Nov 27; closing Dec 3, 2024; case closed Feb 13, 2025.

Where they went

  • Zia Chishti
    founder & CEO (led at peak)
    Independent Investor
    LinkedIn ↗

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-10-22. See our methodology.

Disclosed investors (10)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round · Crunchbase ↗ · 2026-10-22 · Methodology · Leaderboard

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