Investors believe that people will get to love calls with customer support robots
Voice assistant PolyAI is poised to replace costly human resources in customer care
PolyAI, the London-based customer support voice assistant, just closed its Series B funding with $40 million, bringing the total value of the company up to $300 million.
They might be onto something. As the customer support conundrum goes – the overwhelming majority of people dislike talking with automated customer support robots and prefer talking with real people. However, from the company’s perspective – customer support is one of the most expensive attributes of the company because it requires hoards of human capital. Where to draw the line and is there a golden middle option?
The market for call center software is estimated to be worth tens of billions, so companies have a strong incentive to innovate. Companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft have attempted to create new solutions, but thus far no stars have emerged.
PolyAI has become the most successful candidate for the role. Originally launched as a spinout from the University of Cambridge, the company has already scored such clients like FedEx and Marriott.
The fundraising round was led by Georgian with participation from Twilio Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Point72 Ventures and Amadeus Capital Partners. Nikola Mrkšić, CEO of PolyAI, notes that the funding will be used to support the company’s go-to-market efforts as PolyAI ramps up customer acquisition.
