- South African AI-driven startup Cue has completed an R38.3 million ($2 million) seed funding round from angel investors to improve and deepen AI integration on its customer service platform as well as support its growth and expansion plans.
- The new funding follows the $500,000 in pre-seed funding it secured in October 2023.
- Cue has also made leadership changes. Rhett Trickettl will become the Chief Product Officer, Ryan Egnos, the Chief Revenue Officer, and Richard Nischk, the CEO.
Founded in 2018, Cue is an AI-powered customer service platform that provides businesses with customer service solutions on WhatsApp and social media platforms. It offers products such as chatbots and live chats on WhatsApp and works with more than 300 clients. Also, it has expanded to the United Kingdom.
The startup aims to provide fast, seamless, and personalised customer service experiences for businesses, as well as reduce communication wait times.
So far, Cue has driven a 160% sales conversion for Mancosa and a 13% and 7% increase in response rate for AutoZone and Richfield respectively.
Additionally, the startup has helped King Price Insurance reach a 77% return on investment by automating insurance quotes on WhatsApp. For Affinity Health, it helped reduce customer service costs by 73%.
Per the funding plans, an improved and deepened AI integration will provide businesses with automated routine customer inquiries. Also, businesses will optimise their customer engagement strategies and improve support by leveraging insights and data analytics.
Richard Nischk stated that the investment will enable Cue to deliver AI-powered solutions for the customer service landscape.
“With deeper AI integration, businesses can streamline their support operations and help their customers in a much faster and more valuable way,” he said.
AI is seeing gradual adoption in Africa, in 2024, the AI market in Africa is projected to reach $6.9 billion and $18.3 billion by 2030.
Recently, Ghanaian digital freight forwarder Jetstream Africa launched an artificial intelligence-enabled platform, Jetvision.ai, for cross-border trade in Africa. Meanwhile, in Kenya, the AI bill is already a buzz, seeking to establish the Kenya Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society, for the regulation of the use of robotics, AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
