AI Rudder bags US$10m in Series A round for enhanced voice AI support services

VOICE artificial intelligence (AI) startup based in Singapore, AI Rudder, has raised US$10 million (S$13.5 million) in a Series A funding round co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia China Seed Fund.

Existing investors Zhen Fund, IMO Ventures, Zizhu Xiaomiao Fund, and Huashan Capital also participated in the round, AI Rudder noted in a press statement on Tuesday (Nov 16).

The fresh fund infusion will be used for the company's growth and expansion to more countries in Asia Pacific and beyond. In product development, the new funding will be used to enhance AI and product capabilities to provide more intelligent voice and language services.

Co-founder and managing director of AI Rudder, Kun Wu said that consumers want faster, frictionless experiences while interacting with brands and their services, and AI Rudder's technology makes this possible at scale.

"With the new funding, we will be able to support more languages and expand our capabilities, enabling our mission to boost customer experiences across industries. We are grateful to our investors for their support and feel supercharged for the next phase of growth," added Kun.

Rohit Agarwal of Sequoia India pointed out that conversational AI has moved from being a medium of customer support to pillars of customer engagement and retention, with companies digitalising every aspect of their business at an accelerated pace.

"Business to consumer (B2C) voice communications is a US$300 billion market and we are excited about the applications AI Rudder is building to help companies make human-like calls at lightning speed and automate collection and analysis of data to reach and activate more customers", said Agarwal.

AI Rudder's previous funding includes a US$1 million seed round in January 2020 and a US$2 million extension of the seed round in June 2020. Since then, the business has grown its revenue fourfold and acquired 5 times more customers. The team size has also increased from 30 to 100 in the same period, the company noted.

Founded in July 2019, the company uses voice AI technology to help businesses solve B2C communication challenges across a range of different industries, such as banking and finance, fintech, and ecommerce. Notable clients include companies like Kredivo, Adira Finance and FinVolution.

AI Rudder also said it will be focusing on hiring new talent across various functions, including Go To Market, sales and marketing, and solutions consulting. These roles will be based at the company's headquarters in Singapore and will be responsible for overseeing global and regional operations.

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