Kasisto, a US-based conversational artificial intelligence developer backed by payment services firm Mastercard, raised $7m on Tuesday to expand its series B extension round to $22m.
The additional funding came from Napier Park Financial Partners, the private equity arm of alternative asset manager Napier Park Global Capital.
The initial $15m extension was led by Rho Capital Partners in September 2019 and also featured financial services firm BBVA’s venture capital arm, Propel Venture Partners, as well as Two Sigma Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Oak HC/FT and Partnership Fund for New York City.
Kasisto has created an AI-based customer service platform called Kai that has been designed for use in the financial services industry. It is available in four languages and eight countries, and the extra cash will go to Kasisto’s field organisation and technology development.
The company has now raised $50.5m in total. The extra funding is being added to the $17m series B round it closed in 2017. Oak HC/FT led the round, which included Mastercard, Propel Venture Partners, Commerce Ventures, Two Sigma and Partnership Fund for New York City.
Mastercard had joined financial services firm DBS Bank, Commerce Ventures, Two Sigma, Partnership Fund for New York City, New York Angels and Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of New York in Kasisto’s $9.2m series A earlier the same year.
The latter four had previously contributed to the company’s $2.25m seed round in 2014, which included banking firm Wells Fargo’s Startup Accelerator.
