PolyAI Raises $14M to Advance AI Voice Assistant Technology

PolyAI Secures $14 Million in Funding for Conversational AI Expansion

London-based conversational AI startup PolyAI has successfully closed a $14 million funding round. The investment was spearheaded by Khosla Ventures, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Existing investors, including Point72 Ventures, Amadeus Capital, Sands Capital Ventures, Passion Capital, and Entrepreneur First, also participated in this latest funding initiative.

This new capital infusion follows a previous $12 million Series A round, bringing the total funding raised by PolyAI to $28 million. The funds will be strategically allocated to accelerate the company’s expansion efforts within the United States, supplementing its current U.S.-based team.

Developing Human-Like Voice Assistants

PolyAI specializes in the development and deployment of voice assistants designed to automate customer service operations. The company asserts that its technology delivers interactions that closely mimic those with real human agents.

This capability enables businesses to access a virtually limitless and cost-effective resource of high-performing customer service representatives. Consequently, customer wait times are reduced, and both customer satisfaction and loyalty are enhanced, according to PolyAI.

Technology and Performance

Dr. Nikola Mrkšić, a co-founder of PolyAI, explained the core technology as “multi-turn conversational AI.” However, he emphasized the user experience: “All the caller needs to do is simply speak to the system as they would with a human representative.”

The company claims its assistants can improve customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores by as much as 40% and decrease call handling times by up to five minutes when compared to traditional call centers.

“We are able to deploy these systems with remarkable speed – relative to our competitors,” Mrkšić stated. “We can have these experiences operational in just 2-4 weeks, leveraging our transformer-based language understanding models and the underlying dialog management platform.”

Industry Recognition and Competitive Advantage

Vinod Khosla, in a released statement, highlighted PolyAI’s pioneering role: “PolyAI represents one of the first AI companies effectively utilizing the latest generation of large pre-trained deep learning models – similar to BERT and GPT-3 – within a practical, enterprise-level product.”

He further noted that this allows for the rapid deployment of automated AI agents, often in as little as two weeks, a significant improvement over the six months typically required by established voice assistant providers using older technologies.

Market Dynamics and Pandemic Impact

Originating as a spinout from the University of Cambridge, PolyAI is capitalizing on a growing market demand. The pandemic-induced staffing shortages in call centers have driven increased adoption of smart voice assistants.

Notably, these voice assistants have not been supplanted by chatbots, as consumers generally demonstrate a preference for voice communication over text-based interactions.

Successful Implementation and Customer Feedback

Brian Jeppesen of Landry’s Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos shared impressive results: “We initially anticipated the system would handle 40% of calls, but it immediately managed 80%, and within two weeks, that figure rose to 87%.”

Jeppesen added, “Callers consistently believe the AI agent is a human, which is a significant benefit. The voice assistant never experiences a bad day and is available around the clock. I wish I could recruit more agents with those qualities!”

Competitive Landscape

PolyAI operates within a competitive market that includes companies such as Nuance (acquired by Microsoft), Isoft, Interactions, SmartAction, and Replicant.

However, PolyAI differentiates itself by offering faster deployment times, support for a wider range of languages, and a flexible per-minute pricing model.

Founding Team and Expertise

The company was founded by Nikola Mrkšić (CEO), Tsung-Hsien Wen (CTO), and Pei-Hao Su (Engineering Director). The three founders initially connected while pursuing their PhDs under the guidance of Professor Steve Young.

Professor Young is a recognized leader in spoken dialog systems and has been instrumental in developing core technologies that power popular voice assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa.

Current Clients

PolyAI’s current client roster includes prominent organizations such as Landry’s Entertainment, Greene King, Starling Bank, and Viasat.