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Zendesk launches venture fund to invest in AI startups – Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News
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Zendesk has officially launched its global risk fund to support AI-first companies focused on improving customer and employee experiences.
Zendesk Ventures also announced new investments in PolyAI, a developer of advanced conversational voice assistants, and unitQ, an AI-powered product quality platform. The fund enables emerging companies to unlock their potential by providing capital, CX and AI expertise, and strategic partnership opportunities for growth and innovation.
“Every organization is on the path to becoming AI-driven, and we look forward to partnering with leading companies in this new era,”
said Ben Barclay, SVP of strategy, business development and transformation at Zendesk.
“Our goal goes beyond making our products; we also support an ecosystem of startups whose visions align with ours. Customer and employee service is changing rapidly due to advances in artificial intelligence. Investing in these companies doesn’t just fuel their growth: it increases our customers’ ability to deliver exceptional interactions.”
Zendesk Ventures’ portfolio already includes conversational intelligence platform Observe.AI and field service management software provider Zuper. The two new additions to the portfolio announced today focus on AI-driven CX and operational efficiency:
- PolyAI, a voice-centric solution, allows Zendesk customers to handle complex interactions like order tracking and delivery updates as naturally as a human conversation. This feature has increased revenue for customers in a variety of industries, while reducing human agent call volumes and time spent on inquiries.
- unitQ, an AI-powered product quality platform, enables companies to efficiently collect and analyze customer interactions and feedback across a range of 60+ sources in real-time, to pinpoint the root cause of all misunderstandings of users and improve Net Promoter Scores (NPS).
In addition to capital, Zendesk Ventures offers access to CX and AI experts, strategic partnership opportunities to accelerate growth and innovation, and the ability to be featured on the Zendesk Marketplace.
Featured image credit: Ben Barclay, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Business Development and Transformation, Zendesk, by free
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