Automation technology continues to attract funding in an increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment. This is undoubtedly due to the savings potential. In a recent survey by Zapier – not the most unbiased source as the company sells automation software – about 44% of employees say automation saves time, while nearly a third (33%) say they can do more with fewer resources.
One of the vendors benefiting from the interest is Usur, which focuses specifically on automating aspects of the enterprise customer experience. The startup offers dashboards that allow users to create AI-powered workflows for tasks like claims processing, customer service, and scheduling, helping companies automate business tasks and customer service (if the sales pitch is true). .
Ushur announced today that it has raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Third Point Ventures, which includes investors Iron Pillar, 8VC, Aflac Ventures and Pentland Ventures. According to CEO Simha Sadasiva, a total of $92 million since inception, the funds will be spent expanding Ushur’s product portfolio, developing new AI innovations and expanding into new geographies and industries.
Founded in 2014 by Sadasiva with Henry Peter, a former Lucent Technologies employee, Ushur targets companies in highly regulated industries such as insurance, healthcare, financial services and banking with tools that drive adoption of technologies such as conversational AI and Making smart possible. simplify document processing. For example, Ushur offers a chatbot-like plugin that provides automated customer support across web, mobile, email, and live chat channels, proactively reaching customers with information tailored to their needs and transacting automatically across channels.
“We optimize our [AI] Templates for taxonomy and industry-specific document types,” Sadasiva said in an email interview with TechCrunch. “In the insurance industry, for example, ACORD forms are standard. Ushur document models are trained on all types of these forms… Another example is the training model we developed to classify millions of emails.”
When you hear all this, you might be wondering: what makes Ushur different from other automation companies? Good question. Ultimately, Jiffy.ai uses machine learning, AI, and a design studio to help businesses perform tasks that are normally done manually, similar to what Ushur claims to deliver. Meanwhile, SaaS Labs offers AI tools to automate certain sales and support processes. Then there are headlines like Automation Anywhere and UiPath destroying the huge robotic process automation market.
photo credit: loan shark
What characterizes Ushur, says Sadasiva, is its commitment to self-service and plug-and-play customer experiences. The platform enables IT teams to connect existing systems with Ushur-provided APIs and data connectors before handing off work to business teams, who can use Ushur templates to build automated experiences on top of workflows.
“Ushur’s truly flexible, zero-code, AI-powered workflow environment doesn’t require support engineers to constantly design or tune like some automation solutions do,” said Sadasiva. “Most companies can quickly deploy Ushur’s no-code platform with in-house developers and IT teams.”
Sadasiva’s words should be treated with caution. No technology is foolproof, not even Ushur’s, as long as it is as good as it claims.
Technology and opinion aside, Ushur has managed to build an objectively strong customer base, with brands such as Aflac, Aetna, CVS Health and United Healthcare contracted for its services. Sadasiva says more than 50% of Ushur’s clients are Fortune 500 companies, and the startup now serves three of the top six healthcare companies in the world.
The software sells itself, says Sadasiva. Recent research has shown that companies using customer experience automation software expect to double their revenue by 2022 compared to companies using manual email marketing, marketing automation, and customer relationship management tools. According to the same study, automating the customer experience led to more relevant communications and, as a result, better customer retention and acquisition.
“The pandemic has dramatically accelerated Ushur’s operations. In that time, Ushur has more than doubled its customer base, tripled its workforce and expanded its presence on three continents,” said Sadasiva. “As the world has become remote, customer interactions have moved online… At the same time, businesses are hampered by COVID-related staff shortages and have looked for ways to automate. Ushur has empowered businesses to offer self-service digital interactions on any channel during business hours.”
While Ushur currently has no government contracts, Sadasiva says he sees this as an opportunity for growth. In fact, Ushur plans to expand into the public sector in the next 12 months, possibly even with military contracts.
“Ushur is in an enviable position not only to weather a prolonged economic downturn, but to thrive…Even as the economy slides into recession, trends are driving our growth for the same reasons they did during the pandemic,” said Sadasiva . “In addition, our focus on solving real business problems and our disciplined yet hands-on approach to growth have kept Ushur out of trouble while maintaining a rapid growth trajectory.”
There’s a grain of truth in that. While Sadasiva declined to disclose Ushur’s exact earnings (apparently for competitive reasons), he said the last four quarters were the largest in the company’s history and annual recurring revenue in 2022 surpassed the combined total of the previous four years. .
Ushur, which employs 203 people, plans to hire new staff this year.
Source: La Neta Neta
Jason Jack is an experienced technology journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in computer science and engineering, he has a deep understanding of the latest technology trends and developments. He writes about a wide range of technology topics, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, software development, and cybersecurity.
