Financial services firm HSBC has made a strategic investment in US-based cognitive computing company CustomerMatrix, leading its $10.5m series B round.
The round, which included venture capital firms Aster Capital, Newfund and True Global Ventures, increased CustomerMatrix’s overall funding to $19.5m. Newfund and True Global took part in the round as existing investors.
CustomerMatrix has built a cognitive computing platform that recommends tailored actions for sales and support employees in real-time, ranking them and inserting them into existing workflows.
Remi Bourrette, head of strategic innovation investments at HSBC, said: “HSBC is keen to adopt technologies which help it improve the quality and depth of client relationships.
“We believe that cognitive computing partnered with human intellect is a powerful force for change in business. CustomerMatrix is a leader in that field and we look forward to exploring opportunities with them.”
The company has not disclosed complete details about its earlier funding but securities filings indicate it raised $1m in 2013 and $2.6m in February 2015.