Malaysia’s AI agent-powered messaging app Respond.io raises $62.5M, eyes acquisitions

In 2017, Respond.io acceptable retired to lick a elemental problem: businesses couldn’t support up with customers who had moved to messaging apps. Today Respond, with its lawsuit speech absorption software, has go 1 of the tech occurrence stories of Malaysia.

The startup, headquartered successful Kuala Lumpur, has raised a $62.5 cardinal Series B circular led by Camber Partners, with information from Endeavor Catalyst and existing investors. It past raised a $7 cardinal Series A successful 2022. The institution has grown to $35 cardinal successful yearly recurring gross (ARR), increasing 169% year-over-year, astatine a 30% nett margin, it tells TechCrunch.

Co-founder and CEO Gerardo Salandra, who worked astatine IBM and Google earlier joining Runtastic, a fittingness tracking app that was sold to Adidas successful 2015, founded Respond successful Hong Kong successful 2017 alongside Hassan Ahmed (CTO) and laroslav Kudritskiy (COO). The squad relocated the concern to Malaysia 2 years later.

The level helps mid- to large-sized B2C businesses thrust gross from lawsuit conversations crossed aggregate messaging channels including WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Messenger, Line, Telegram, WeChat, dependable calls and web chat. It besides uses AI agents to automatically grip precocious volumes of lawsuit inquiries, suffice leads and adjacent income without quality intervention.

Salandra described its halfway customers arsenic “high-consideration” businesses, wherever customers request to speech to idiosyncratic earlier buying, specified arsenic healthcare, automotive, retail, acquisition and travel. “You don’t spell to a website, enactment your recognition card, and bargain a car; you chat with someone, you inquire a batch of questions,” helium said. Its saccharine spot is companies with 200 to 10,000 employees.

The emergence of AI has raised an evident question for platforms similar Respond: Can tools similar ChatGPT simply regenerate what they’ve built?

Salandra thinks his foothold is beardown capable to halt specified encroachment, should it come. The institution is presently processing 2 cardinal messages per quarter.

“If I conscionable look astatine the numbers, each time that AI becomes much prominent, we turn faster,” helium told TechCrunch. “We are not seeing what the nationalist SaaS markets are seeing.”

Part of that comes down to pricing, helium said. Unlike endeavor bundle competitors that complaint per seat, Respond charges based connected the measurement of lawsuit conversations, meaning it doesn’t substance whether a quality oregon an AI is answering. “When less humans usage your product, they marque little money,” helium said. “But we don’t complaint similar that.”

The incumbent platforms, peculiarly those ascendant successful North America and Europe, were built astir email and telephone calls. “The platforms that exist, they bolted connected messaging arsenic a 2nd thought. They’re precise email focused, they’re precise telephone focused, but erstwhile it comes to messaging, it’s an afterthought,” Salandra said.

That measurement of connection information creates a feedback loop, according to the CEO. More messages mean amended AI. Better AI attracts much customers. More customers make much messages. “This is what we telephone the information flywheel,” Salandra said. He added that the caput commencement matters for immoderate upstart AI company, arsenic well. “Because we started truthful agelong agone and we person specified a beardown foundation, we tin supply amended AI compared to idiosyncratic who conscionable entered into the messaging space.”

With the caller capital, Salandra said the institution plans to prosecute hiring, integrated maturation and acquisitions. The CEO has 2 types of buying targets successful mind: bolt-on exertion that fits into its existing ecosystem, and established teams with beardown lawsuit bases successful strategical markets similar Europe and North America. “Imagine however galore months I tin prevention if I find the close institution that possibly already has the clients and the team,” helium said. “I tin prevention myself six months to a twelvemonth done an acquisition.” He confirmed the institution is already successful talks with a mates of imaginable targets.

The geographic propulsion makes strategical sense. Respond presently generates astir 30% of its gross from APAC, 30% from Latin America, and 20% from the Middle East and Africa, leaving North America and Western Europe astatine conscionable 20%. But Salandra says those regions are present its fastest-growing. “They took longer to marque the change, but present they’re moving precise rapidly into messaging channels,” helium said, adding that helium expects some regions to go the company’s largest conception wrong 2 to 3 years.

Despite the caller injection of capital, Salandra is cautious astir what comes next. “We don’t privation to beryllium a maturation astatine each costs company,” helium said. “Even with this money, we’re going to beryllium precise disciplined.” But Salandra has bigger plans successful mind. “My favourite outcome?” helium said. “Ringing the doorbell astatine Nasdaq.”