DRUID is an end-to-end platform specialising in developing intelligent virtual assistants, otherwise known as chatbots. The Romanian startup has just picked up over €14.2 million for its innovative tech and is now looking to go global. The funding was led by Karma Ventures and Hoxton Ventures, joined by GapMinder, who consolidated its position from the previous round, and four other investors from Germany, Switzerland, Poland, and Romania.
Digital transformation has influenced all aspects of our lives, and when it comes to businesses, digital tech has never been more important. Companies, and entire industries, are being pushed to increase the use of tech to ensure consumer centricity and to provide high standards of customer service.
One emerging trend in this new business environment has been the rapid acceptance and the ever-increasing need for AI-powered intelligent virtual assistants. Consumers now like to get answers to their queries fast, and they’re not always prepared to sit on the phone. Chatbots offer this era’s solution.
Founded in 2018, DRUID’s AI-driven conversational business applications allow businesses to enhance the user experience for both customers and employees. The company provides enterprises with unique conversational capabilities and enables intuitive, natural, and frictionless digital interactions. We reckoned it was a startup to watch this year, putting it on our top 10 Romanian startups list.
Liviu Drăgan, CEO of DRUID, explained: “Following our vision to deliver a virtual assistant for every employee, DRUID is a global leader in AI-driven conversational business applications that assist organizations in delivering their digital transformation agendas. Leveraging our market-validated platform, our goal is to empower businesses worldwide in using DRUID solutions to secure customer loyalty and boost employee retention for businesses of all sizes. We are going beyond the present typical constraints of conversational solutions to create a new category of products, Conversational Business Applications (CBA), that will enable AI to successfully drive complex processes and help people achieve better business results.”
DRUID intelligent virtual assistants enable fast, personalized, omnichannel, and hyper-automated interactions while speaking each organization’s language via open integrations with any existing enterprise systems and RPA technologies.
Available in over 45 languages, DRUID offers hundreds of conversational templates that serve specific roles and processes within any industry. Recurring DRUID revenues increased by 580% in 2020 compared to 2019.
This fresh funding will help fuel DRUID’s international expansion aspirations. The company intends to open new offices in France and Germany by the end of 2022 as well as consolidate its existing presence in the UK and US. In addition, the Romanian startup will be setting a focus on making key new hires, boosting its worldwide team by 60%.
Kristjan Laannemaa, Founding Partner, Karma VC, said: “DRUID is our first investment in Romania. UiPath has let the whole world know about the great potential of the Romanian tech ecosystem and we are glad that we have an opportunity to work with Liviu Dragan and his team on another fast-growing software company.”
Hussein Kanji, partner at Hoxton Ventures, added: “At Hoxton, we back businesses from Europe that can scale globally. We’re excited by DRUID’s growth in the U.S. and are confident that with this new funding, it will grow into the category leader for Conversational Business Applications.”
