South African startup FinChatBot, a creator of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for the financial services industry, has raised a US$1.6 million funding round to help it expand into Europe and West Africa.
Established in 2016, FinChatBot develops solutions that have become key conversation and customer service channels for most financial service providers in South Africa. The startup now services more than 20 top-tier financial service providers, including banks and insurers, helping to sell and service financial products with no human intervention.
With clients including MTN Financial Services, Sanlam, Santam, Hollard, MiWay and Bidvest Insurance, FinChatBot is now well-established in South Africa, it is now plans to scale internationally after raising US$1.6 million in funding.
The investment round comes from French investment holding company Saviu Ventures, the Mauritius-based Compass Venture Capital, and South African venture capital firm Kalon Venture Partners. Both Compass Venture Capital and Kalon Venture Partners are solidifying their positions, having previously invested in FinChatBot in 2018.
FinChatBot will use the funding primarily to grow its team and expand into West Africa and Europe with the opening of three offices in France, the United Kingdom (UK) and Portugal. The startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Antoine Paillusseau said he was grateful for the support of investors that believe in the startup’s vision of becoming the leader in selling and servicing financial products with the use of conversational AI solutions.
“By implementing our solutions, financial service providers are able to double their conversion rates, reduce operational costs by more than 60 per cent, retain customers better, and gather more data about customers which can be used for product innovation and customer retention,” he said.
