Singapore-based fintech start-up Active.ai, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver virtual assistant banking services, has raised $3 million in funding from IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. This investment will support the rapid growth of Active.ai to continuously advance its cutting-edge platform and to build out advanced AI features, enabling an increasing roster of clients to deliver a superior and engaging banking experience, the company said in a statement. The company solves fin tech-related problems by removing the process of calling a bank's call-centre and waiting in an endless IVR. With Active.ai a person who has lost a card can simply message the bank, which will in turn be able to converse with the person using an automated virtual assistant, block the card and issue a new one. Active.ai’s solution will allow financial services companies to offer compelling UX that will simplify engagement via messaging platforms customers’ access in their daily lives. Ravishankar, CEO and Co-Founder said, “Conversation is the new UX and with banks opening up APIs, a new era of digital business is emerging. We are moving from ‘Mobile First’ to ‘AI first’ and Active.ai is the platform facilitating banks to achieve that.” "Active.ai is helping banks redefine their digital strategy for the future, bringing in automation and intelligent customer engagement to banking and payments. The company’s intelligent and built-for banking technology uses advanced NLP and machine intelligence to enable customers conduct natural dialogues over messaging, voice or IOT devices,” added Shankar Narayanan, COO and Co-Founder. Ravishankar, Shankar Narayanan and Parikshit Paspulati (CTO and co-founder), bring a wealth of expertise in banking and fintech, having founded companies in mobile banking, payments and working on start-up teams of leading banks in Asia. In a short period of time, the company has gained traction with banks across Asia, added revenue and built a team of experts in banking technology and AI. “43 per cent of worldwide mobile phone consumers with a bank account use mobile banking today. The new generation of banking customers are looking for easy, secure and seamless interactions with their financial services provider. IDG Ventures India believes that AI will completely transform the banking industry, and we are excited to partner with Active.ai to build the world’s largest conversational banking platform,” said Sanat Rao, IDG Ventures. Bala Srinivasa, Kalaari Capital notes "messaging-based mobile banking has become a strategic imperative for banks globally to enhance consumer experience and lower customer engagement costs. Active.ai is poised to tap into this large market opportunity with its chat and AI-powered mobile customer engagement solution. Kalaari is excited to back this founding team given their past track record, banking domain knowledge, and deep technology expertise."
Active.ai, a Singapore-based fintech company, has secured $3m in financing from IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital to further develop its artificial intelligence features and improve its platform. The company is also working on developing an AI platform for the Indian market that will be launched by end of this year.