What’s AI good for? Automating repetitive duties for the very busy individuals operating small companies, reckons Berlin-based startup Synthflow, which is saying a $7.4 million seed spherical for its SME-focused no code platform for AI voice help.
Since being based round spring final 12 months, the startup has now banked a complete of $9.1 million, underscoring ongoing investor enthusiasm for accelerating functions of generative AI.
The startup additionally claims to be approaching 1,000 prospects — touting “double-digit” month-to-month development charges because it stepped out of stealthy growth to launch its browser-based “no code” software in December 2023. That implies there’s a wholesome urge for food amongst SMEs to undertake — or a minimum of experiment with — generative AI instruments that promise easy-to-reach productiveness good points.
The brand new funding will likely be ploughed into R&D, in accordance with Synthflow CEO and co-founder Hakob Astabatsyan, who says the staff is eager to maintain stoking its early momentum by rising product utility and broadening the scope of SMEs to which it’s interesting.
“We now have very many concepts. We all know precisely what the purchasers want,” he tells Trendster.
Astabatsyan, a serial entrepreneur with a enterprise background, is ex-Rocket Web. Becoming a member of him in his newest enterprise are his brother, Albert, who additionally labored with him on a previous no code startup; and Sassun Mirzakhan-Saky, who brings a software program engineering background and CTO experience to the staff.
Whereas Synthflow’s product kicked off with English-language name dealing with as a result of its largest markets are English-speaking, it has since added German and French language variations (notice: these are nonetheless in beta). So dialing up its concentrate on the latter markets in Europe can be on the playing cards.
Finish-to-end expertise
Name facilities have been early adopters of AI voice brokers, pulling on giant language fashions’ (LLMs) APIs to energy methods that would reply cellphone calls in a human-like means — simply with indefatigable vitality and enthusiasm 24/7, if not all the time flawless comprehension.
Synthflow is taking the idea in a barely completely different path, concentrating on service industry-focused SMEs straight, together with these in the direction of the smaller finish of the class with a DIY “no code” providing. The purpose is to supply SMEs an “end-to-end” expertise, per Astabatsyan, who argues that the return on funding from with the ability to automate core duties like appointment scheduling will likely be instantly apparent to its goal resource-strapped companies.
“The AI can do it in a extra inexpensive method, extra reliably, and people can do different stuff,” is his concise pitch for voice help.
He offers the instance of a handyman or mechanic who would usually reply the cellphone themselves when not engaged on a job — that means they inevitably find yourself lacking numerous calls and dropping out on some enterprise because of this; or a dentist who employs a receptionist who works restricted hours so, once more, isn’t all the time round to select up the cellphone.
Having a software that may deal with fundamental buyer enquiries may very well be a gamechanger for small companies, Astabatsyan argues.
Synthflow’s goal being SMEs essentially means a core focus for the startup is making AI expertise accessible to non-technical customers — which is why it’s constructed a no code interface for its prospects to design voice brokers that match the wants of their companies.
“We needed to attempt to construct one thing easy,” he explains. “A no code layer on prime [of AI agents] in order that… enterprise house owners, enterprise oriented individuals, can go and mess around with this and get acquainted and discover the what LLMs can do for his or her companies.”
Synthflow’s interface lets prospects drag and drop components to configure voice AIs that may carry out particular duties for them — comparable to scheduling appointments; operating by FAQs; or performing “data extraction,” comparable to acquiring private data from a possible buyer so a human can name them again.
“Let’s say if somebody has to name, and there’s a explicit set of inquiries to be requested and explicit items of data to be collected — particularly static ones, comparable to, tackle, residence, and so forth — AI is excellent,” he argues.
The client can select to configure the AI assistant so it discloses it’s a robotic. “I believe it is extremely good observe to reveal that it’s a digital assistant,” says Astabatsyan. “My private favorite opening is: ‘Whats up. My identify is [so-and-so], proper now, all our traces are busy. I apologise for that. I’m the digital assistant right here at [the name of the business]. How can I make it easier to?’.”
One other huge utility for voice AIs is recognizing when a name must be transferred to a human agent, in accordance with Astabatsyan. So, primarily, utilizing AI to filter inbound calls primarily based on complexity — with automation taking good care of the straightforward requests which then compounds the profit by liberating up human brokers to have extra time to spend on extra advanced buyer enquiries.
He stresses the purpose isn’t to interchange human jobs however relatively suggests AI can assist SMEs be extra productive and environment friendly than they might in any other case be with their restricted assets.
For this reason, in addition to letting prospects deploy voice brokers, Synthflow’s system is designed to care for post-call information entry duties too — including appointments to a calendar software for example. Constructing out integrations with third-party software program is thus one other huge focus for the staff.
“That is what the AI is so good at,” he argues. “As a result of it may take this data [extracted from a call] and, let’s say, replace explicit fields particularly CRM — and when you do these items at scale, on lots of or 1,000s of calls, all of the sudden we’re seeing this expertise benefit that we noticed [when businesses first adopted] computer systems.”
For the voice brokers, the startup is constructing on OpenAI’s GPT LLM but additionally incorporating its personal AI fashions on prime — which Astabatsyan says have been educated by itself information and fine-tuned to particular buyer use-cases.
He says it has additionally constructed its personal “voice orchestration layer” which converts the client’s speech into textual content that may then be fed to the AI mannequin as a immediate, returning an automatic reply that the system converts from textual content into speech the client hears as a synthesized voice on the opposite finish of the cellphone line.
For now, Synthflow is targeted on utilizing AI with inbound calls — which Astabatsyan suggests are the low hanging fruit for automation for resource-strapped companies. However he hints at extra subtle capabilities in growth, with R&D fuelled by the chunky seed spherical.
One factor he mentions they’re engaged on is a function that may allow Synthflow’s voice AIs to carry out what he refers to as “reside actions” or “connections” — that means that in a name the AI would have the ability to run a examine on reside stock in a warehouse. Or pull in one other different piece of requested information and “push it elsewhere,” as he places it.
He additionally sketches a state of affairs the place task-focused AI voice methods would have the ability to develop their utility collectively. They may hand off a name to different devoted voice AIs educated for various duties being requested by the client.
“The important thing right here is to have concentrate on who your prospects are. As a result of, relying for whom you’re constructing this, your product goes to be very, very, very completely different,” he provides.
One influence to contemplate is, if voice AIs and voice help methods reside as much as the productiveness hype — slickly delivering on the promise of effectively dealing with a complete layer of buyer enquiries, together with by expertly redirecting extra advanced stuff to the best system or human to cope with — it may find yourself that means the typical SME discovers they’ve an terrible lot extra work than they’re in a position to tackle.
“I believe that’s an attention-grabbing query for lots of managers and leaders to consider, proper?” he responds, discussing this state of affairs. “Like, if there’s a lot capability — and productiveness will get unleashed — how will we channel this human assets in different sectors of the economic system? As a result of I believe this query isn’t answered but, but it surely’s a really attention-grabbing query certainly.”
Synthflow’s seed funding is led by Singular, with participation from present investor Atlantic Labs and quite a few traders within the AI area, together with the founders of Krisp AI.
