Scotland-based speech analytics startup Aveni announced that it has raised around $1.5 million (£1.1 million) in a funding round led by Tricapital. Aveni’s portfolio offers financial service providers an AI-powered natural language processing (NLP) engine for transcribing and analysing conversations with customers to improve their services.
The new funding will support the release of the new Aveni Detect platform to automatically process what the customer says for analysis.
Aveni Detect is made to boost the efficiency and quality of a customer’s interaction when they call a financial services company. The platform feeds the audio of the call directly into the NLP engine for processing. Aveni has been focusing on the finance sector as its main clientele since its establishment in Edinburgh in 2018. The platform is also used during digital conferencing or in-person meetings. The AI transcribes what is said in real-time and can offer suggestions and ideas on how best to interact with the customer. It also offers suggestions for future encounters for better customer experiences, saving clients hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance issues.
Aveni CEO Joseph Twigg said:
“It’s a win-win situation. By using AI to help automate processes like quality assurance and risk monitoring, material cost reductions can be achieved.”
“At the same time, companies gain targeted insights on customer experience and training opportunities for customer-facing staff.”
This round of funding marks Tricapital’s second time leading for Aveni for a $1.7 million total in investment for the startup. The list of potential rivals is getting longer, most recently with Webio raising $2.1 million and Hyro’s recent $10.5 million raise. With financial services evolving rapidly after the pandemic, Aveni will probably have plenty of clients looking for assistance.
Twigg added:
“Consumer behavior and business needs have changed significantly over the past 18 months as the service industry digitized in response to the pandemic. This created a new base of consumers comfortable with video conferencing led, digital-first services.”
“But it also created a major challenge for firms to monitor and assess these calls, especially as an increasing number of them were from vulnerable customers who needed additional attention. In the new world, AI can be adopted throughout the customer journey, driving new insight, significant efficiency gains and better protecting the vulnerable.”
