An artificial intelligence startup redefining customer service in regulated industries and backed by former Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield has raised £9.6m in Series A funding.
Gradient Labs’ AI agents are focused on sectors such as FinTech. The firm says that 66% of customers today expect a response to an inquiry within minutes, while one in three will walk away from a brand after a single bad experience.
Subsequently, 87% of service agents report high levels of job-related strain. AI-powered tools are helping to ease the pressure, speeding up response times and reducing the workload; however today’s AI products only scratch the surface.
Gradient Labs eliminates repetitive tasks from the entire customer operations cycle, from frontline support to back-office processes. Utilising automation, it claims that its AI agent consistently resolves up to 90% of queries with a quality assurance pass rate of 98%, outperforming human agents and alternative chatbots while reducing costs by 75%.
The round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Localglobe, Puzzle Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures and Exceptional Capital.
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“Having spent years scaling a top UK neobank, I understand the complex challenges regulated businesses face in balancing compliance and innovation,” said Blomfield.
“Purpose-built solutions such as Gradient Labs are critical to bridging the gap, and I’ve seen first-hand the safety and service quality improvements that leading UK FinTechs – those truly determined to deliver exceptional support – are achieving using its technology.”
Dimitri Masin, CEO of Gradient Labs, added: “For many years, financial service companies have faced a dilemma: technology has made customers more demanding – they expect immediate service at any given time – yet the sector is risk-averse and heavily regulated, which makes it difficult to implement the innovations they have grown used to when interacting with businesses in other sectors.
“With nearly a decade of experience focused on automating operations, customer support, and financial crime processes within a top UK bank, we know that the cost of mistakes in customer operations can be dire. This funding round is further proof of the sheer demand for a safe and reliable AI customer service agent for regulated industries.”
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