Directly, a US-based developer of customer satisfaction evaluation software, attracted $20m yesterday in a series B round featuring Microsoft Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of software producer Microsoft.
The round, which increased the company’s total funding to approximately $32m since it was founded in 2011, included venture capital firms Costanoa Ventures and True Ventures.
Directly produces artificial intelligence (AI)-based software that automatically crowdsources answers to customer service queries from a product’s power users, helping to improve customer experience and reduce costs.
Power users are offered rewards to participate and field enquiries, and their involvement is then used to further train Directly’s AI engine. The company will use the series B capital to further develop the platform.
Costanoa led Directly’s $10m series A round in 2015, investing alongside True Ventures, CrunchFund and Toba Capital, all three of which had taken part in its $1.8m seed round in 2013 together with angel investors Ray Lane and Esther Dyson.
Leo de Luna, managing director of Microsoft Ventures, said: “Directly changes how companies think about AI and how they deliver customer service.
“We see a number of ways that Directly’s platform can help transform the enterprise by implementing amazing customer service experiences.”