INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
An Indian startup that aims to use artificial intelligence to deliver faster and more personalized customer support for corporate clients is
raising $51 million in funding from investors including March Capital Partners and Chiratae Ventures.Uniphore Software Systems Pvt, based in
Chennai and Palo Alto, Calif, plans to use the emerging technology to change the labor-intensive business of call centers, displacing
founded the company in 2008 with his engineering classmate Ravi Saraogi
They are competing with technology giants like Google, Microsoft Corp
and International Business Machines Corp
as well as at least a dozen AI startups to automate the $350 billion call center industry, helping agents deliver more useful support while
decreasing the number of infuriating and ineffectual experiences."This is one of the largest rounds in an area of deep tech already seeing a
lot of investor activity," CEO Mr Sachdev said in a telephone interview
"It represents the coming of age of conversational AI."He declined to reveal the startup's valuation, but said it is "one step away from
turning into a unicorn," the tech industry's term for a value of $1 billion or more.Voice bots and automated messaging systems are already
changing the world of call centers, and experts reckon the majority of human workers will be driven to obsolescence by artificial
year.Using messaging apps, chatbots and speech-based assistants, so-called conversational artificial intelligence automates communication
and delivers personalized experiences
"Virtual agents are gaining ubiquity via smartphones and messaging platforms to support customer care, marketing and employee efficiency,"
center workers and those numbers will steadily diminish as companies adopt new technologies
"Humans will shift from taking mundane calls to enhancing knowledge and teaching AI what is the good answer and how to resolve issues," he
said.Uniphore will use the funds to hire talent, invest in research and development and accelerate expansion, particularly in its primary
The startup plans to increase its engineering and development operations to 200 employees in India by the year end, while another 60 will be
based in the United States and 40 in Europe and Asia Pacific
Its customers include BNP Paribas SA, Genpact, NTT Data, and PNB MetLife."Indian entrepreneurs are going from slow-followers to
fast-innovators," said John Chambers in an interview earlier this year, explaining why he's backing Uniphore
"I see a young breed of founders who are hungry for a piece of the future."Get Breaking news, live coverage, and Latest News from India and
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