Machine learning start-up Futr. has secured £2.4m in seed funding, in a round led by VC firm Praetura Ventures.
Founded in 2017 by Andy Wilkins and Lee Skyrme, Futr. describes its technology as ‘conversation-as-a-service’.
To support the new tech capabilities on its roadmap, Futr. plans to use the funds to significantly grow its team of developers, data engineers and data scientists.
Working in industries including the police, central and local government and a number of leading private sector organisations, the firm simplifies the use of communications channels like Alexa, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger into a single chat interface.
Futr. has been invited to partner with a number of global tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft, who the firm said had identified it as ‘a top priority partner’.
Andy Wilkins, CEO of Futr. explained that the firm had been created to serve what the founders saw as the ‘ultimate user interface’.
“We’re passionate about delivering universal access to products and services – where tech savviness, language, availability and channel shift are no longer barriers.
“We’ve built a lot of clever tech that makes this simplicity possible, but this is only the beginning. For the next part of our journey it was really important to find the right type of support for Futr. and so we’re delighted that Praetura Ventures and the other investors who share our vision have come on board.
“With their experience and backing we’ll continue to deliver exceptional products and solve some of our customers’ most meaningful problems.”
Guy Weaver, director at Praetura, added: “Since we met Futr., we’ve been really impressed with how quickly their pipeline of opportunities has grown.
“The platform architecture gives Futr. a competitive advantage, meaning it’s leading developments in the rapidly expanding Conversation as a Service market.
“We believe chatbot technology is a high-growth area, and Futr. is in a great position to take advantage of the increased demand.
“With Praetura’s experience in successfully scaling Software as a Service businesses, we’re well suited to help Futr. develop its go-to-market strategy and scale its tech team which will be vital to ensure the business meets its potential.”