US-based conversational artificial intelligence (AI) software developer Kasisto has received $17m in a series B round featuring payment services provider Mastercard and Propel Venture Partners, the VC firm funded by bank BBVA.
Oak HC/FT, a $500m fund formed by private equity firm Oak Investment Partners, led the round, which also featured Two Sigma Ventures, Commerce Ventures and Partnership Fund for New York City.
Kasisto has built a conversational AI platform called Kai that powers bots and virtual assistants for financial services providers. It can help customers with payments, transaction and account insights and personal finance management through human-like conversations.
Financial institutions that use Kai include Standard Chartered, TD Bank, DBS Bank, Mastercard and Wells Fargo. The capital will be used to add new features to the platform and scale Kasisto’s business to meet demand in new and existing markets.
Kasisto previously raised $9.2m in a January 2017 series A round featuring DBS, Mastercard, Propel Venture Partners, Commerce Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Partnership Fund for New York City, New York Angels and Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of New York.
Bank BBVA, SRI International, New York Angels, Two Sigma Ventures, Partnership Fund for New York City, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of New York and assorted angel investors had previously provided $2.25m in a 2014 seed round.
Zor Gorelov, CEO of Kasisto, said: “This past year has been one of explosive growth across the board – the number of signed deals and deployed customers, our team’s strength and size and Kai’s feature robustness and readiness for large-scale enterprise deployments.
“There is great momentum going into this investment, especially following the recent signing of major customers including TD Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. We are very excited to partner with Oak HC/FT on this next phase and consider their track record and expertise in the finance sector a significant asset.”