Thankful Raises $12 Million for Customer Service AI

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Thankful Raises $12 Million for Customer Service AI
Mico

Venice-based Thankful AI Inc. raised $12 million in Series A funding for its customer service artificial intelligence platform.
 
Thankful plans to use the funding to further develop its AI to include features such as greater personalization and the ability to upsell in customer service situations.

 
The funding round, announced Sept. 27, was led by Westwood-based Alpha Edison, a technology-focused venture capital firm.

 
Other investors in the round included Santa Monica-based Bonfire Ventures, Windsor Square-based TenOneTen Ventures, New York City-based Greycroft, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Omega Venture Partners and Corona del Mar-based Miramar Venture Partners.


“Thankful’s level of intelligent customer service engagement was deeper than anything we’d seen before, and in service, understanding the customer is critical,” Bonfire Ventures’ Managing Director Jim Andelman said in a statement.


Thankful develops and sells customer service AI software for written channels such as email, in-app and website chat, social media and text messages. The company said its software can route, assist, translate and resolve large volumes of customer queries at a time.

 
Thankful was founded in 2016 by Ted Mico, the company’s chief executive, and Evan Tann, its chief technology officer. Mico is a former executive of tech and media companies such as Mirriad, MixedMediaWorks and Interscope Records. Tann formerly served as the chief executive of Cloudwear Inc., a cybersecurity technology company.


“Thankful was born out of frustration,” Mico said. “As customers, my co-founder and I were both spending way too much of (our) lives waiting for customer service (interactions), and we couldn’t work out why technology wasn’t helping the process when it had been so useful in improving every other aspect of the customer journey.”

 
Thankful’s major customers include Crate & Barrel Holdings, FabFitFun Inc., MeUndies Inc., Morphe, and Bombas. It also works with major helpdesk companies, including San Francisco-based Zendesk Inc. and New York-based Kustomer Inc. 

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