Parloa, a leader in AI-powered automation for customer service, announced that it has raised €61.7 million in Series B funding led by Altimeter Capital, with participation from new and existing investors EQT Ventures, Newion, Senovo, Mosaic Ventures and La Famiglia Growth. The funding brings Parloa’s total capital raised to-date to $98 million, following its $21 million Series A funding round led by EQT Ventures in 2023.
Parloa was founded in 2018 by Malte Kosub and Stefan Oswald in Berlin, Germany to harness the power of AI to revolutionize the way contact centers operate and disrupt the $500 billion call center market. Parloa’s AI platform empowers some of the largest organizations across critical industries such as Insurance, E-commerce, Utilities, and Travel. Parloa enables these organizations to deliver personalized, dynamic and humanlike experiences to their customers – reducing endless wait times for their end customers while automating busywork for their employees.
This announcement comes on the heels of 3X revenue growth in each of the last 3 years and Parloa’s successful US market entry in 2023 when it opened its first office outside of Europe in New York. Within six months, Parloa was able to sign several Fortune 200 companies. The funding will support Parloa’s product enhancement initiatives and continued expansion across high growth markets including Europe and the US.
“We see tremendous potential in Parloa and share its vision of AI-powered customer experiences. We have been studying the space deeply and we believe that Parloa stands out as a leader given their incredibly talented team and their deep focus on the most valuable parts of the customer experience stack. Not only have they earned the trust of some of the world’s largest enterprises, but they have gotten here in a capital efficient manner. We look forward to partnering with Parloa to scale their impact globally,” said Apoorv Agrawal, Partner at Altimeter Capital.
“We are incredibly excited about this financing round, as it will allow us to make a significant leap forward in improving the customer service experience for everyone and setting new standards for the communication between customers and enterprises,” commented Malte Kosub, Parloa Co-Founder and CEO. “The financial, operational and strategic acumen of Altimeter Capital as one of the world’s most revered tech investors will help us scale in new markets, supercharge our growth and enhance our AI-powered platform and product line-up.”
Mr. Kosub added: “We are thrilled our new partners share our vision to revolutionize customer experiences by enabling AI agents to engage personally, proactively and independently. AI agents are evolving beyond rigid, script-based voicebots to provide personalized responses and interactions. We make calling companies fun again.”
Parloa works closely with Microsoft and has been using Microsoft Azure for its solutions for several years. “Parloa is a remarkable case of a European AI company built on top of the Microsoft Azure infrastructure and delivers distinctive benefits to their customers in pursuit of their growth ambitions,” said Ralph Haupter, President EMEA at Microsoft. “Parloa’s customer service technology improves the consumer experience, allowing agents to concentrate on complex and important topics.”
In addition, Parloa has established strategic partnerships with leading global consulting firms, including KPMG and PwC. These partnerships are instrumental in assisting enterprises with AI transformation and the implementation of Parloa’s cutting-edge solutions.
“Parloa’s impressive and steady market performance, coupled with their evident forward momentum, underscores their capacity to make a substantial mark in this multi-billion dollar industry. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the team as they continue to drive innovation and transform the way companies engage with their customers,” said Doreen Huber, Partner at EQT Ventures.
“For companies and partners, the Parloa platform is an excellent solution for deploying generative AI in customer communication quickly, easily and securely,” added Jens Rassloff, Chairman of the Board at Parloa.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2024/04/berlin-based-parloa-bags-e61-7-million-series-b-to-scale-and-expand-ai-powered-customer-service-platform/
