Observe.ai, an artificial intelligence-based startup that focusses on voice conversations for customer service, has raised $26 million (approximately Rs 184.16 crore at current exchange rates) in its Series A funding round from a clutch of investors.
California-based venture capital firm Scale Venture Partners led the investment round, Observe.ai said in a statement.
Other investors that participated in the round include Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, 01 Advisors and Emergent Ventures.
The company said it will use the funds to expand its US and India teams, and will also accelerate its product development.
Swapnil Jain, co-founder and chief executive officer at Observe.ai, said the investment will fuel the firm’s mission to elevate agent performance through AI-based coaching and insights
The latest investment takes the total funding raised by Observe.ai thus far to $34 million, the statement added.
As part of the transaction, Scale Venture partner Andy Vitus will join Observe.ai’s board. It has also been accepted to the Microsoft for startups programme.
Separately, Vitus said the startup was already disrupting the voice customer service market by rethinking agent coaching approaches and personalised experiences for brands.
Observe.ai, which is operated by Z21 Labs Inc., was founded in 2017 by Swapnil Jain, Akash Singh and Sharath Keshava Narayana. It claims to have signed up over 100 clients and formed partnerships with firms such as Talkdesk, ERCBPO, and itelBPO in the past 12 months.
The company says it uses its voice AI platform to leverage speech and natural language processing techniques. This allows customers to conduct a quality check of all customer service calls and ensure compliance with protocols.
In August last year, the company raised $8 million (around Rs 55 crore) in a funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners. US-based MGV, Liquid 2 Ventures, Hack VC and existing investors Emergent Ventures and Y Combinator also participated in the round.
Deals in the AI segment
AI startups have seen a massive surge of investor interest and funding in the last few years, as companies and clients across sectors seek to address pain points in their operations through the application of machine learning and other related technologies. Startups are also using to open up new products, service categories, and entire sectors.
Last month, Cogniphi Technologies Pvt. Ltd, an artificial intelligence-based cognitive tech startup, raised an undisclosed sum in a strategic investment from UST Global Inc. UST Global said its investment in the Kerala-based company will help accelerate the development of Cogniphi’s artificial intelligence and vision platform.
In August, H2O.ai Inc., an artificial intelligence startup whose algorithms are used by firms to predict fraud, customer churn, and more, said it raised $72.5 million (about Rs 520 crore) in a Series D funding round led by the New York-based Goldman Sachs and an overseas fund of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., which is China’s largest insurer by market value.
In the same month, India-based TVS Motor Company Ltd invested $3.2 million (around Rs 22.8 crore) in Predictronics Corp., a US-based maintenance analytics firm. TVS has invested in other new technology companies as well, including Tagbox Solutions and Altizon Systems Pvt. Ltd.