Tech startup Observe.AI scores $26M to revolutionize the $300 billion voice customer service market with artificial intelligence

The voice analytics market size is expected to grow from $657 million in 2019 to $1.6 billion by 2024. Artificial intelligence is going to play a major role in transforming this vertical. Observe.AI is a customer service voice analytics startup that is using AI-powered agent enablement for voice customer service by bringing coaching and conversational insights to the world’s top brands to improve the customer experience.

With its Voice AI Platform, which leverages the latest Speech and Natural Language Processing technologies, organizations quality check 100% of calls, ensure compliance, and turn agents into top performers.

Today, Observe.AI announced it has raised $26 million Series A financing to expand its US-India team globally and accelerate product development. The round, which brings the company’s total funding to $34 million, was led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, 01 Advisors, and Emergent Ventures. The funding arrives just as the company has struck a deal with Microsoft to integrate its technology and analyses to shared customers. In conjunction with the funding, the company also announced that Andy Vitus, partner at Scale, will be joining its board.

Founded in May 2017 by Akash Singh, Sharath Keshava and Swapnil Jain, Observe.AI already boasts one of the largest call centers in the U.S. among its customers. Observe.AI is used by more than 100 customers and partners, including, Tripadvisor, Microsoft, ERCBPO, Talkdesk, and more. The startup is backed by Scale Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Y Combinator, and Emergent Ventures.

“Legacy speech analytics systems are simply not meeting the needs of the world’s top brands,” said Swapnil Jain, CEO and co-founder of Observe.AI. “Today’s customer service agents have a unique ability to emotionally connect with customers and are often a brand’s only frontline representatives. This investment will fuel our mission to elevate agent performance through AI-based coaching and insights.”

Many support teams monitor just 1-2 percent of calls and use three or more systems to access conversational insights and enable agents. Observe.AI uses the latest speech, natural language processing, and deep learning technologies to analyze 100 percent of customer conversations and provide adaptive coaching, including completely automating some parts of the quality assurance and compliance tracking processes. The platform becomes smarter with each call analysis.

“Observe.AI is already disrupting the $300 billion voice customer service market by rethinking how agents are coached and the way top brands provide personalized customer experiences,” said Andy Vitus, Partner at Scale Venture Partners.

Observe.AI also announced that it has been accepted into the Microsoft for Startups program. With this relationship, Microsoft customers can leverage Observe.AI’s platform through its Azure marketplace.

“At Microsoft, we’re thrilled to see one of our Microsoft for Start-Up members excel as one of the fastest-growing startups in the Bay Area. Observe.AI continues to define how AI can transform the customer experience, impacting enterprise support teams to improve quality of service, agent performance, and productivity,” said Shaloo Garg, Managing Director, Microsoft for Start-Ups.

In the past 12 months, Observe.AI has signed 100 customers and formed partnerships with leading organizations like Microsoft, Talkdesk, ERCBPO, and itelBPO. Some of the world’s largest enterprises and emerging brands use Observe.AI, including TripAdvisor, Concentrix, ClearMe, and Root Insurance. Thousands of global agents are coached with Observe.AI, which provides a detailed look at how top agents successfully structure calls so those tactics can be replicated.

“We expect to see a 4X increase in annual recurring revenue in 2020,” said Sharath Keshava Narayana, CRO of Observe.AI. “With plans to significantly expand our sales, marketing, and customer success teams over the next few months, we’re both eager and grateful to build on the momentum.”