Agara, a New York-based startup that builds real-time voice AI to aid autonomous conversations, announced it has raised $4.3 million in pre-Series A extension round led by UTEC, a Japan-based early-stage deep-tech venture capital firm.
Existing investors Blume Ventures and RTP Global also participated in the round. This brings the total funds raised by Agara to $7.5m and includes bluechip investors Kleiner Perkins.
Founded in 2017 by Abhimanyu and Arjun Maheswaran, Agara develops virtual voice agents that can be used for customer service.
The company said it uses proprietary machine learning (ML) models to understand intentions in speech, make intelligent decisions to handle queries and talk individual customers through to a resolution.
The company has plans to establish its first pure AI research team at Bangalore in 2021. It also plans to double its team of ML research executives and data scientists in 2021.
The funding will be used to accelerate product development and make a number of strategic hires in Agara’s technology department as well as growing the sales and marketing team in North America.
Abhimanyu, Co-founder and CEO of Agara said: “Whether it is sales calls, phone support or product feedback, voice has been the top choice for companies around the globe. We strive to be pioneer in voice-first world. With the new Covid norms, we expect the demand for virtual voice agents [to] rise manifold.”
Kiran Mysore, Principal at UTEC added: “As a deep-tech fund, UTEC was impressed with Agara’s autonomous Voice AI agent powered by voice-first Applied ML algorithms and real-world data. Agara’s product-led growth puts them in the pole position to be a category-defining enterprise Voice AI company. We aim to supplement Agara through client and Go- to-market partnerships with Japanese MNCs”
Sanjay Nath, managing partner at Blume Ventures said: “Autonomous voice has applications beyond customer support and can stretch across industries and functions. We at Blume believe the day isn’t very far where autonomous voice agents will be ubiquitous. The Agara team has showcased tremendous deeptech expertise in building a cutting edge product that has been validated by the likes of P&G. We are very excited to continue supporting the company and help make Agara synonymous with autonomous voice.”
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