Kore.ai Inc. has closed a fundraising round that’s the biggest raised by an Orlando-based company so far this year.
The conversational artificial intelligence software company closed a $50 million Series C round, and it also secured $20 million in credit from Pearl River, New York-based Sterling National Bank. The investment dollars will be used to hire and invest in the firm's technology, founder and CEO Raj Koneru told Orlando Business Journal.
Investments in people and tech
Companies around the world use Kore.ai’s platform to build virtual assistants to automate online conversations with employees or customers. Kore.ai claims its software has contributed to more than $500 million in cost reductions for clients.
This investment round has been in the works for months. Orlando Business Journal reported in April that Kore.ai raised more than $30 million. That was part of the larger Series C round that the company just closed.
Kore.ai will use the funds to broaden its presence in the conversational AI market. The 7-year-old company already has made progress by launching SmartAssist and BankAssist, which bring AI virtual assistants to call centers and retail banking.
Plus, Kore.ai will hire sales, marketing and customer relations positions. Koneru said he's not sure how many people the company may add, but it will start with filling 150 open positions. That includes at least 13 open positions listed on Kore.ai’s website that are based in the U.S., where Kore.ai employs roughly 100 people.
Out-of-state investors
The $50 million Series C round was led by Vancouver-based Vistara Growth and Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Kore.ai is on the "forefront of innovation" in the use of conversational AI tech, said Vistara Growth founder and Managing Partner Randy Garg.
Also participating in the round were Menlo Park, California-based NextEquity Partners, Vancouver-based Nicola Wealth and Burnaby, British Columbia-based Beedie Capital.
All of the investors that participated in Kore.ai's latest fundraising round were based outside of Florida, something that's becoming more common in the Sunshine State, Dennis Pape, founder and CEO of early-stage investment firm SeedFundersOrlando, said during an Orlando Inno roundtable on Sept. 20. "What I've seen over the last 18 months is a tremendous amount of attention from outside VCs [in Florida]... That's a new phenomenon."
Of course, venture capital is often critical for startups and early-stage companies. It funds companies as they scale up while also providing business expertise and industry connections.
Local startups landed more investment dollars in the first half of the year compared to last year. There were seven startup investment deals valued at $84.3 million in metro Orlando in the second quarter, according to data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. Investment activity last quarter jumped 69% from $49.9 million in deals in the first quarter and increased 103% from $41.6 million in second-quarter 2020.
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