Kauz, a German chatbot company, has secured €2.3 million from the investor network Companisto for further expansion of its generative AI platform. As one of the regional leaders in chatbot applications, Kauz combines leading large language models with its self-developed NLU (Natural Language Understanding) technology, enabling controlled AI deployment in businesses.
Kauz entered the market as one of the first chatbot providers in the DACH region with a ChatGPT integration in March 2023. Simultaneously, the expansion into a self-service platform for AI assistants was accelerated, to be further expedited by additional financial means. The decision was consciously made to rely on Companisto’s private investor network to independently continue the successful expert approach in technology development in the coming years.
Within a few weeks, €2.3 million were pledged through the Angel Club, existing investors including a founder’s convertible bond, and micro-investments from private investors. “The rapid and straightforward execution of the financing round confirms the already tangible potential of our technology and market approach,” said Dr. Thomas Rüdel, founder and CEO of Kauz.
The financing will be invested in further expanding Kauz aiStudio, which enables companies of all sizes to use website chatbots and AI assistants for internal needs. Kauz’s mission is to ensure the controllability of AI solutions. This goal is also served by the introduction of so-called “private models,” through which Kauz supports the trend towards open-source models that are customizable for individual customers and can be deployed on-premises if necessary.
With the availability of powerful large language models, the market dynamics for AI-based solutions fundamentally changed by 2023. For Kauz, the potential of this technological push immediately benefited its product offerings. Despite having its own extensive, industry-specific knowledge base, chatbot development still involved relatively high manual efforts. By integrating with large language models, the path for a highly scalable, widely applicable solution became instantly clear.
“Historically, we have been primarily located in the SME segment with 180 chatbot applications. With the usability of generative AI, we can now scale our solution even better with Kauz aiStudio, thereby accelerating digitization in SMEs and even tapping into new customer segments such as craftsmen’s businesses,” added Dr. Rüdel.
