The Boulder-based startup Stylo raised $3 million in seed funding to push out its software that automates customer-support functions.
Matchstick Ventures, a venture capital firm dually located in Boulder and Minneapolis, led the round. Former Techstars leaders Natty Zola and Ryan Broshar run Matchstick and focus their investments on pre-seed and seed-stage tech startups based in the northern United States and the Rocky Mountain region. Also participating in the round, which was oversubscribed, were Vitalize, Converge and Caffeinated Capital.
“We’re very excited about Stylo and their obsession with improving the lives of customer experience teams through data, AI, and automation," Zola said. "Customer experience teams are critical to company success and deserve world-class products that make it easier to better serve and support their customers."
When customers contact a company with a complaint, Stylo's software uses artificial intelligence to interpret the messages and categorize them based on the level of frustration or urgency they convey. The startup claims that its algorithms can understand complex interactions with customers that would typically require an employee to read, interpret, triage and escalate.
Stylo was founded at the start of 2020 and so far works with about 20 clients, including software companies InVision and ShipHero and the IT security company SecurityScorecard. As tech companies freeze hiring or make layoffs because of the challenging macroeconomic environment, Stylo's software can free up customer support teams to work on more complex issues, said CEO Austin Emser.
"What we do is help customer support organizations identify the things that are basically going to blow up before they do and to get ahead of it," Emser told Colorado Inno. "There's a really big challenge with support teams today, especially in the current market where people don't have the headcount they need, unfortunately."
Emser described Stylo as a "diligent guard" that works all day to understand customer messages and prevent the company from receiving intensified complaints.
"Anyone that’s worked in support has first-hand experience of volatile customers who tweet at the CEO because they didn’t get what they needed fast enough," Emser said.
Stylo's software is available via the Zendesk Marketplace. Emser said the company differentiates itself from competitors by being ready to use from the time of purchase and not requiring any training or coding skills.
Stylo estimates it will surpass $1.5 million in revenue in 2023, Emser said. It offers 30-day free trials for its software, and paid plans start at $10 per month for every customer support agent.
The startup plans to use its seed funding to bolster its sales and marketing teams and continue to improve its software — all in an effort to set the company up for a Series A fundraise in 2024, Emser said.
Stylo employs 15 people who are based across the United States, as well as in Spain, Nepal and Ukraine. Emser said the company would look to hire additional staff in early 2023.
