AI-powered voice processing startup RocketPhone.ai has raised $10.5M largely through Ohana community crowdfunding – and without VC backing.
RocketPhone, which was founded in 2017 and is based in London, provides voice processing software which listens to customer service and sales conversations to flag identifiers for follow-ups, helping businesses secure more sales.
What Is RocketPhone?
RocketPhone revealed it was launching the world’s only business mobile network for Salesforce, RocketCell, earlier this year. The product records, transcribes, summarises, and logs every mobile call in Salesforce – without the need for a separate app.
RocketPhone.ai is also now “months away” from announcing the release of its video analysis tool, bringing video channels like Zoom and Microsoft Teams the same functionality as voice, the company said in a statement.
“Unlike existing video note-taking tools that send transcripts to GPT for summarisation, RocketPhone.ai’s upcoming technology will analyse facial and body expressions to accurately gauge engagement and distraction,” the company said.
“The funds raised will fuel the next stage of innovation. The development of our video analysis tool marks a step-change in how AI will shape the future of sales, creating new opportunities for businesses to drive better engagement between agents and consumers across all channels.”
Muj Choudhury, Co-Founder and CEO of RocketPhone
Muj told Salesforce Ben that they now have an extensive cap table, having crowdfunded large amounts from the Ohana community. The British Government has also helped fund them, as their technology can be used to help detect evidence of misselling, fraud, and attempts to harm vulnerable people, Muj says.
He outlined his thinking behind crowdfunding the project and not taking on VC. Muj said: “In essence, what happens is, if you look at [some of] the big Salesforce ecosystem companies, they’ve exited multi-billion dollar valuations. And the only guys that ever made money from those exits were the VCs and the sort of the ultra-wealthy guys who put money into those in the first place.”
He added: “So you’ve got a small number of VCs and a very small number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals sitting in Silicon Valley somewhere making a ton of money from the Salesforce ecosystem, and that money doesn’t flow into anybody else in the ecosystem.”
Muj went on: “So we thought, okay, let’s do something different and open up our company – not the ultra-high-net-worth guys or the VCs who fund Salesforce ecosystems and companies – let’s open ourselves up to the average Joe.”
He said that, ultimately, what the project was about was “community and democratization”, and if they started giving rich people preferential treatment, the whole model would be broken.
Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, Michael Wooldridge, has also been appointed to the company’s advisory board.
He will take up the role of Chief Science Officer.
RocketPhone says Professor Wooldridge would play a “critical role” in the development of their AI-native product suite, and the company was “honoured” to welcome him onboard.
“World’s First Ohana Crowdfund”
RocketPhone says their product can help sales teams close more deals and get ahead of the competition, coaching, and guiding reps in real-time with in-call prompts and action automation.
The startup also says customer experience and service teams can be helped through real-time rep alerting, which should improve service and spot new and upsell opportunities. Managers are also able to automatically monitor teams with real-time AI, tracking and viewing rep performance with AI bookmarking and speech analytics.
In a post for Salesforce Ben in March 2023, Muj had introduced the project to the ecosystem as the “World’s First Ohana Crowdfund”.
He wrote: “For too long, the typical fundraising cycle has remained unchanged. Seed Round > VC Backed Series A > VC Backed Series B, all the way to IPO (initial public offering). For individuals, it’s near impossible to join this fundraising cycle and share in the extraordinary wealth generated when tech companies successfully exit. We invite you to join the world’s first Ohana funding round and join us on our mission to transform Salesforce telephony.”
A link was provided for people to register their interest.
Final Thoughts
Artificial intelligence is opening the door for a wide array of products and services which might well revolutionize their fields.
It’s clear that the Ohana community sees great potential in RocketPhone, and the startup seems to be one to watch for Salesforce ecosystem members interested in how exactly AI will come to change seemingly every aspect of our working lives.
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