AI Startup Secures $66M to Automate Call Centers

Berlin-based Parloa has raised $66 million in series B funding to bring AI-powered automation to customer service.

Founded in 2018, Parloa offers automation solutions for contact centers, including an AI speech application that automates interactions with customers in natural language.

Altimeter Capital led the round, joined by EQT Venture, Mosaic Ventures and La Famiglia Growth. Existing investors Newion and Senovo also participated.

The round brings Parloa’s total capital raised to $98 million. The startup previously secured $25.6 million in its series A last March, which included investment from German soccer star and 2014 World Cup winner Mario Götze.

Parloa will use the funds to improve its platform and product lines as well as fuel its U.S. expansion.

“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,” said Malte Kosub, Parloa co-founder and CEO.

Parloa’s AI platform is being deployed across various industries including e-commerce, travel and insurance. It is designed to provide companies with natural-sounding voices to use in customer-facing environments like call centers.

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Parloa’s platform can understand why a customer is calling and automatically routes them to the right agents. It also handles FAQs, answering commonly asked customer queries and can perform tasks like changing a customer’s address and performing order fulfillment.

The startup said its platform resolves customer queries quickly to allow contact center agents to focus on other tasks.

Parloa entered the U.S. market in 2023, opening an office in New York and went on to secure several Fortune 200 customers.

The company has also partnered with Microsoft. Parloa uses its Azure cloud service to host its solutions.

“Parloa’s customer service technology improves the consumer experience, allowing agents to concentrate on complex and important topics,” said Ralph Haupter, Microsoft’s EMEA president.