Yodel.io, the startup which set out to optimise how SMEs handle and interact with phone calls, just closed a €910k funding round with EXF Alpha and angel investors. The cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider enables customers to access industry leading artificial intelligence (AI) that sits in a team’s communication channel, working as a digital call assistant and transcription service. Founded in 2016, Yodel empowers SMEs to build and create a phone system to rival that of big business, without the in-house technical knowledge. The fresh capital will be used by Yodel to establish a New York office, in addition to its presence in London, Vienna, and San Francisco.
Yodel already allows over 2000 SMEs the tools previously only within the financial grasp of corporate enterprises. Yodel’s system is used by SMEs across a multitude of industries including independent hotels, small shopping chains and independent restaurants, as well as online retailers and tech startups. Currently operational in 30 languages, Yodel is spanning across 47 countries and powers tens of thousands of inbound phone enquiries per month.
Yodel’s CEO and Co-Founder Mike Heininger stated: “We are able to give SME owners the power to support their customers, while investing themselves in their work. We have already seen how beneficial our current features are, and we are continually evolving to offer new features that aren’t found anywhere else. Collaboration is the new way businesses work nowadays. And this is exactly who we support with Yodel.”
The technology handles all inbound calls, allowing its AI driven voice-bot to answer and speak directly to the customer to find out who to connect them to. The call is directed to the selected person through messaging platforms such as Slack or Drift, or the standalone Yodel application. Yodel can transcribe the call, pulling important data from the text allowing the team members to be briefed instantly on the nature of the call. If team members are unavailable, the system will take the required details and let the caller know that the right person will get back to them, briefing the team prior to returning the call.
Yodel provides these market leading integrations to e-commerce technology provider BlueBoard, allowing its users to have inbound voice integration right from within its platforms, streamlining processes and maximising efficiencies. Leading US-based web-hosting provider, DreamHost also uses Yodel’s technology to support its award winning 24/7 telephone support services.
Berthold Baurek-Karlic of EXF Alpha, commented: “Yodel.io is building a great product on top of AI engines of leading tech-giants. Voice, and in particular phone bots, are game changers for businesses and we believe in Yodel.io is the solution key to voice-driven automation for business.”
Whilst Werner Girth, A KPMG Partner and Telekom Advisor added: “The development of AI is driven not only by the Googles and Amazons of this world. Small companies like Yodel play a huge role in pushing the frontier of how humans are going to interact with machines. These companies are often the inspiration or catalyst for change at the global computing giant, hence why KPMG, we are constantly looking for the most innovative solutions from small companies every year to get them in front of the curtain. To that effect, Yodel was one of the ‘small’ companies that won at our awards in 2018 for its increasingly intelligent AI-driven tools. I can see them continue to set the pace for some time to come.”
