ConverseNow Technologies, Inc., an Austin-based startup that automates and personalizes restaurant orders on high-volume voice channels using Artificial Intelligence (AI), today announced $3.25M in seed round funding led by Bala Investments with participation from LiveOak Venture Partners, Tensility Venture Partners, Knoll Ventures, 2048 Ventures, Bridge Investments and Connexus A1 Fund managed by Ken Neeld, CEO of Delphi Display Systems. Rajiv Bala, Managing Director at Bala Investments, will join the company's board of directors.

While restaurant dine-in business has fallen because of the pandemic, quick service restaurants (QSRs) have quickly adapted to new ways of optimizing contactless customer interactions, e.g. contactless ordering, delivery, curbside pickup stations, and an increase in drive-thru orders to minimize spread of COVID-19 during these uncertain times.

As consumers adjust to this new normal by choosing to stay home, increasing social distancing and switching to more contactless off-premise ordering options, operators are responding to this behavioral shift. QSRs are now adapting technology to support growing volume on voice-based ordering channels such as drive-thru, phone and self-service kiosks to enable contactless ordering.

ConverseNow's Voice AI platform has been helping QSRs by automating and personalizing the ordering process, driving efficiencies and reducing customer wait times. The platform also helps in managing the peak demand of resources efficiently and drives higher order value using personalized upsell recommendations.

"We're building a unique plug and play technology that will allow QSRs to use AI as a Service. The platform is already being used by leading QSRs and has demonstrated a measurable 25% increase in order value. The funds will enable ConverseNow to further enhance its technology, significantly increase its sales, and continue to grow its customer base." ConverseNow, co-founder and CEO Vinay Shukla said in a statement. "Our partners and investors bring a unique blend of industry expertise that will help us expand our footprint across US."

"Understanding user intent and emotional quotient is the key to driving great customer experiences, order closures and upsell revenue. ConverseNow's platform uses highly nuanced speech technology and custom AI/ML models to continuously learn from customer ordering behavior to drive end-to-end customer conversations," said Rahul Aggarwal, co-founder / COO & CPO at ConverseNow.

Wayne Pederson, CIO of Fazoli's Restaurant Management, LLC, adds, "AI will play a large role in restaurant technology as we work to balance the shift to off-premise and drive-thru. We want to maximize this channel so that our team can manage the increased order volume, whether they are placing an order via phone, the drive-thru or the dining room. We found ConverseNow's technology to be a perfect fit to address our requirements without compromising on the guest experience."

"At Delphi, we believe AI and contactless interactions will be a key factor in customer engagement in the post-pandemic new normal. In partnership with ConverseNow, we believe that we can provide immediate value to our QSR customers' in-store kiosks and drive thru by optimizing their order-to-service time, increasing order accuracy, expanding check size through dynamic suggestive upsell, and growing customer satisfaction," said Ken Neeld, Founder and CEO at Delphi Display Systems.

"ConverseNow is revolutionizing the restaurant industry with its technology. We are excited to support ConverseNow team as they write the playbook for contactless ordering with consumers and restauranteurs alike." said Rajiv Bala, Managing Director at Bala Investments.

About ConverseNow:
ConverseNow connects restaurants with their customers and brings them one step closer to their customers using AI. The ConverseNow platform automates and personalizes restaurant orders in high volume voice channels such as phone, drive thru, self-service kiosks, voice assistants, and voice assisted chat on mobile. Emma, the context-aware digital ordering expert of ConverseNow, engages with customers in a human-like manner using anonymized abstracted machine intelligence to predict customer ordering behaviors and offers highly relevant and personalized recommendations. Emma drives revenue for restaurants by improving margins and increasing upsell while providing a better consumer experience.

For more information, visit http://www.conversenow.ai.