Sweepr, the customer care platform for the connected home, has announced that the Amazon Alexa Fund has joined its €8 million series A round as a strategic investor. Sweepr was included in our list of 10 Ireland-based startups to watch in 2020.
With 1.1 billion global broadband connections, more and more people are using smart devices at home. However, ‘smart homes’ can become confusing, frustrating and time consuming if the technology in question experiences problems, with fragmented customer support. Through its voice activated platform, Sweepr will enable end-customers to ask everyday questions like, for example, “why is my Netflix not loading?” and Sweepr will provide answers in real-time.
Sweepr, founded in 2018, provides a platform that helps even the tech averse take care of the technology in their home, such as diagnosing problems, providing tech support and connecting devices. Its gathers detailed digital context in response to each consumer’s support request and leverages this content to automatically and intelligently choose the best content to deliver specific, relevant, customized help. It delivers this support through instructions, pictures and video that are easy to understand and targeted to the technical skill of each consumer. Sweepr’s mission is to lower the barriers for customers to get meaningful help in the moment that they need it.
“Customers love using Alexa to control their connected devices, and we want to continue to make the entire smart home experience even simpler and more convenient,” said Paul Bernard, director of the Alexa Fund. “Sweepr is enabling this type of convenience through its customer support services, and we’re excited to support their growth as a strategic investor.”
Commenting on the announcement, Alan Coleman, founder and CEO of Sweepr said, “We believe that technical support needs to be available in the moment of need rather than after waiting on hold for a care agent to answer the phone. Instantly available voice interfaces in the home, what we term voice-first care, is becoming a critical enabler of this experience as they become more ubiquitous. We are delighted to welcome the Alexa Fund as a Sweepr investor, which reinforces our confidence that we are on the right path towards transforming customer technical support to address the growing complexity of our connected home environments.”
