(Sept 24): Customer service startup Ujet Inc has raised US$76 million (RM319.44 million) from investors and named a new co-chief executive officer.

San Francisco-based Ujet, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses with their customer support, was valued at US$500 million in the new funding round, led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from GV, Kleiner Perkins and Citi Ventures.

The company also promoted Vasili Triant to co-CEO from chief operating officer, it said. The founding CEO, Anand Janefalkar, will shift his focus to product and engineering. 

“It’s time to scale,” Triant said of his new mandate. He added that the company’s goal is to “drive towards profitability, and not be needing any more funding rounds.”  

Ujet’s technology is used by customers like Instacart Inc and Turo Inc to “reduce the amount of bodies they need to run their contact centres,” Triant said. The company uses AI for a more personalised customer experience. 

Jai Das, partner and co-founder at Sapphire Ventures, said the firm believes the startup will make customer support teams “a lot more productive.” He also said that while “it’s a long journey” to IPO for most companies in this climate, he believes in Ujet as a long-term standalone business.

Uploaded by Felyx Teoh