Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of enterprise software supplier Salesforce, has taken part in an $89m funding round for US-based artificial intelligence technology producer I.am+, Reuters reported yesterday.
The round closed in March 2017 but was only disclosed this week. The other participants were not named.
Founded in 2013, I.am+ initially focused on consumer electronics products such as Bluetooth-enabled headphones, but is entering the enterprise market with the launch of an artificial intelligence-equipped voice assistant called Omega.
Omega’s technology is currently being used by telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom, the startup’s first corporate client, as a customer support chatbot ahead of the roll-out of a voice-based system.
I.am+ hopes to develop a range of enterprise products based on the Omega technology. It has now raised $117m in total, it told Reuters, though it had previously only disclosed $6m out of a targeted $40m funding round, through a 2014 regulatory filing.
I.am+ was founded by William Adams, the musician known professionally as Will.i.am. Adams serves as chief executive of the company and told Reuters: “I wanted to create something that allows us to do many things.
“There is so much you can do with a voice platform. One of those things is handling hundreds of thousands of customers’ inquiries about their data plans simultaneously. If it can do that, your imagination is the limit.”