On a mission to transform the sales process using conversational AI and automation, Swiss startup Unique has just picked up €5.5 million for its intelligence platform. Investors in this seed extension round include the Swiss private bank Pictet, Constantin Sturdza (acting on behalf of clients), and Swiss venture capital firm VI Partners.
Today, the young company founded in 2021 by Manuel Grenacher (CEO), and Andreas Hauri (CTO), has also announced that it has acquired Ciara, the German pioneer in real-time meeting intelligence.
As the future of work continues to evolve, and sales teams are either working in an office, remotely or in a hybrid mix, Unique is on a mission to transform sales using AI. The startup uses tech to deeply analyze customer conversations to deliver real-time insights, helping salespeople understand customers better and close even more deals. As a result, using Unique helps teams build stronger relationships with customers and gives customers more transparent and simpler buying experiences.
Unique leverages AI to record and analyse sales conversations in 12 languages making the product highly scalable and personalised. It can also be used by sales leaders to train salespeople – leading to an improvement in team performance and boosting skillsets.
Founded in 2019 in Munich, Ciara analyses voice data to deliver deal insights and conversation guidance to sales and customer service professionals. Ciara’s IP, including deal assistance, will be integrated into the Unique platform, which includes real-time capabilities for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom ecosystems. The acquisition of Ciara will certainly bolster Unique’s plans to become the market leader in sales intelligence.
Manuel Grenacher, CEO and Co-Founder of Unique, commented: “Since our launch, we have seen strong demand from businesses that want to radically improve and support how their sales teams perform and close deals using the power of conversational AI. We’re thrilled that our latest funding and acquisition of Ciara will help fuel our rapid growth during this critical time. As where we work continues to evolve, our solution helps ensure that remote, hybrid and in-office workers have the intelligence and support they need to work effectively.”
Unique has quickly gained customers in a number of industries – from technology to professional services, and in particular, banking and insurance. This new funding will be used to continue rapid growth and hire 100 new employees across Europe within the next quarters, including at its recently opened offices in the UK and Netherlands.
Joe Neale, Partner at VI Partners, said, “We’ve been impressed at how quickly Unique has gained traction, winning a number of important customers across Europe, who recognize the power that Unique’s AI-driven conversational sales intelligence and automation can have to drive their sales teams to more success.”
