Active.ai raises $3M, to build AI features & expand globally
Singapore based FinTech startup Active.ai raised $3 million in funding from IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. Active.ai, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deliver virtual assistant banking services, will use the funds to grow its services in Asia and North America and expand its offshore development center in Bengaluru, India. It also claims to build AI features for helping clients deliver better IVR banking experience.
The company’s solution aims to allow financial services companies to offer UX to simplify engagement via messaging platforms that customers’ access in their daily lives.
“Conversation is the new UX and with banks opening up APIs, a new era of digital business is emerging. We are moving from ‘Mobile First’ to ‘AI first’ and Active.ai is the platform facilitating banks to achieve that,” said Ravishankar, CEO and Co-Founder, Active.ai.Active.ai states that with this solution, any person who has lost a card, can simply message the bank and will be able to converse with an automated virtual assistant, block the card and issue a new one.
“The company’s intelligent and built-for banking technology uses advanced NLP and machine intelligence to enable customers conduct natural dialogues over messaging, voice or IoT devices,” added Shankar Narayanan, COO and Co-Founder, Active.ai.Speaking about the investment, Sanat Rao of IDG Ventures said, “43% of worldwide mobile phone consumers with a bank account use mobile banking today. IDG Ventures India believes that AI will completely transform the banking industry, and we are excited to partner with Active.ai to build the world’s largest conversational banking platform.” Active.ai was founded by Ravishankar, Shankar Narayanan and Parikshit Pashpulati (CTO and co-founder). The company aims to automate customer interactions using insights powered by algorithms. The AI platform connects to a financials platform via APIs, messaging interfaces and IoT devices, thereby claiming to automate customer engagement and services at a lower cost.