Knowlarity Launches KATIE, An Advanced Next Generation AI Powered Telephony Services

Knowlarity, the cloud communications provider across emerging markets globally, has launched the Knowlarity Artificial Intelligence Experience (KATIE) platform. With this launch, business communications and the commoditized cloud telephony industry is set to go through a paradigm shift, with Knowlarity leading the way.

KATIE has been built specifically to Enterprise scale that will allow her to process a massive amount of data in near real-time using powerful backend services. In the frontend, it is enriched by a combination of AI based query and visualizations that enhance user ease and enriches user experience. KATIE is currently available to key customers of Knowlarity and will be made available to all of their Enterprise Customers shortly.

Commenting on the development, Ajay Shrivastava, Chief Technology Officer, Knowlarity, said, “Knowlarity has been the undisputed pioneer and leader in cloud telephony solutions for businesses across the globe. We have brought about a massive shift in the business-to-customer interaction process, particularly for emerging economies. Through its implementation, businesses will not only cut down on their operational costs and efforts but also optimise their operations and deliver highly personalized messages to their customers simultaneously.”

As a part of the above suite of AI-powered services and the first one to be made available, Knowlarity also announced the launch of its “Personalized Contextual Automated Calls” powered by advanced next generation Text-to-Speech services (http://knowlarity.com/tts).

Providing businesses with unparalleled quality and control over the pitch, accent, and language for every call, businesses can now generate a communication experience for its customers akin to Amitabh Bachchan giving you a call in his deep baritone and reminds you to get your child vaccinated! The conversation is individualized through the use of information from multiple databases, which provide accurate and detailed insights on the user.

AI in cloud communications makes the unthinkable possible by offering unparalleled insights and automation. It will act as your virtual representative, interacting personally with the customers of businesses and responding to their queries. AI and Analytics can track key business communication metrics and systems 24x7 while creating alerts immediately when anything anomalous happens, keeping the business completely secure.

Leveraging TTS on Knowlarity requires businesses to upload the database containing customer numbers and other dynamic data points onto the Knowlarity cloud. The information entered is processed to initiate the call blast. Parallel calls are then made, delivering highly personalised messages to customers. TTS finds great application in automated reminders, KYC verifications, appointment booking, OTP sharing, and order confirmation. This allows businesses to maintain an impeccable quality in consumer-focused communications.

“For example, e-commerce players can send out an automated call to the customer to confirm their availability before the delivery boy’s visit. This not only reduces the no-show but also allows them to boost their last-mile operations. Businesses now have unparalleled control over their communication settings through Knowlarity, which has become the harbinger of a revolution in the business communication domain,” said Ajay.

A New Delhi-based company founded in 2009, Knowlarity’s products and services are actively adopted by more than 2 million users and is the largest provider of such services. The company is backed by marquee investors like Sequoia Capital and Mayfield Fund. Some of the key customers include Google, Amazon, Uber, Practo, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Gaadi among others.

By enabling high-quality automated communications for both promotional and transactional applications for businesses, Knowlarity is aiming to bring down operational costs, improve SLAs and unlock better operational efficiencies. Businesses in sectors such as brand campaigns, aggregate portal solutions, hospital/healthcare, real estate, education, banking, automobile, e-commerce, food & beverages, and courier services, in particular, are expected to benefit greatly from the product rollout from Knowlarity.

Knowlarity Introduces AI-powered Telephony Services to Alter the Way Business Communications Work

Knowlarity, the leading cloud communications provider across emerging markets globally, has today announced the launch of Knowlarity Artificial Intelligence Experience (KATIE) platform. With this launch, business communications and the commoditized cloud telephony industry is set to go through a paradigm shift, with Knowlarity leading the way. KATIE has been built specifically to Enterprise scale that will allow her to process a massive amount of data in near real-time using powerful backend services. In the frontend, it is enriched by a combination of AI based query & visualizations that enhance user ease and enriches user experience. KATIE is currently available to key customers of Knowlarity and will be made available to all of their Enterprise Customers shortly.

AI in cloud communications makes the unthinkable possible by offering unparalleled insights and automation. It will act as your virtual representative, interacting personally with the customers of businesses and responding to their queries. AI and Analytics can track key business communication metrics and systems 24x7 while creating alerts immediately when anything anomalous happens, keeping the business completely secure.

As a part of the above suite of AI-powered services and the first one to be made available, Knowlarity also announced the launch of its “Personalized Contextual Automated Calls” powered by advanced next generation Text-to-Speech services. Providing businesses with unparalleled quality and control over the pitch, accent, and language for every call, businesses can now generate a communication experience for its customers akin to Amitabh Bachchan giving you a call in his deep baritone and reminds you to get your child vaccinated! The conversation is individualized through the use of information from multiple databases, which provide accurate and detailed insights on the user.

Leveraging TTS on Knowlarity requires businesses to upload the database containing customer numbers and other dynamic data points onto the Knowlarity cloud. The information entered is processed to initiate the call blast. Parallel calls are then made, delivering highly personalised messages to customers. TTS finds great application in automated reminders, KYC verifications, appointment booking, OTP sharing, and order confirmation. This allows businesses to maintain an impeccable quality in consumer-focused communications.

Speaking on the announcement, Ajay Shrivastava, Chief Technology Officer, Knowlarity, said, “Knowlarity has been the undisputed pioneer and leader in cloud telephony solutions for businesses across the globe. We have brought about a massive shift in the business-to-customer interaction process, particularly for emerging economies. Buoyed by this success and staying true to our commitment to innovation, we have once again pushed the envelope of achievement. We have reimagined cloud telephony like never before and are set to create another disruption in the domain with the launch of our highly futuristic tool of AI-powered cloud telephony. Through its implementation, businesses will not only cut down on their operational costs and efforts but also optimise their operations and deliver highly personalized messages to their customers simultaneously.”

Further elaborating on the same, Ajay added, “For example, e-commerce players can send out an automated call to the customer to confirm their availability before the delivery boy’s visit. This not only reduces the no-show but also allows them to boost their last-mile operations. Businesses now have unparalleled control over their communication settings through Knowlarity, which has become the harbinger of a revolution in the business communication domain.”

By enabling high-quality automated communications for both promotional and transactional applications for businesses, Knowlarity is aiming to bring down operational costs, improve SLAs and unlock better operational efficiencies. Businesses in sectors such as brand campaigns, aggregate portal solutions, hospital/healthcare, real estate, education, banking, automobile, e-commerce, food & beverages, and courier services, in particular, are expected to benefit greatly from the product rollout from Knowlarity.

Knowlarity Appoints Former OYO Technology Head, Ajay Shrivastava, as CTO

Knowlarity, the world’s leading cloud communications company, has recently appointed Ajay Shrivastava, as its Chief Technology Officer. Ajay was the the Head of Technology at OYO Rooms before. Ajay has been a technical leader in start-ups as well as established global leaders such as Intel, Adobe, Microsoft, Expedia, SlideShare, LinkedIn and OYO. Considered a veritable tech wizard, he specializes in high-performance execution of technology and will be bringing this prowess on board at Knowlarity to further bolster its tech infrastructure.

At OYO, Ajay spearheaded the seeding and growing of OYO’s technology and team from scratch. He headed technology for the company during the phase in which OYO grew exponentially from 4 to 200 cities, from a handful of hotels to 7000+ hotels, and from few employees to 2500 employees across the country. Having diverse experience in building brands from the ground up to working with some of the largest companies in the world, Ajay has an instinct of identifying which strategy to apply at what stage of a company and how it should evolve with the growth of the venture.

Commenting on the appointment, Knowlarity’s CEO Ambarish Gupta said, “It gives us immense pleasure to welcome Ajay on board. He is one of the most dynamic and respected leaders in the Indian technological sphere. He will help Knowlarity to cement its leadership in Cloud Telephony industry. With his leadership, we will establish technology as the fulcrum of Knowlarity’s operations.”

The company is also launching a tech blog, http://engineering.knowlarity.com. The blog will feature expert opinions, insights, stories and experiences from Knowlarity’s Engineering, Design, and Product teams. Ajay’s writings will be a great addition to this blog, as these are already quire popular, and are read and followed by young professionals as well as industry veterans.

Expressing his happiness with the appointment, Ajay added, “It gives me great pleasure to join the thriving workspace of Knowlarity, which is doing seminal work in the cloud and business communications arena. I always enjoy working with fast-growing start-ups as it gives me ample opportunities as well as operational freedom to build awesome products, technology and organizations. I hope to create something unique and disruptive together with the passionate team at Knowlarity.”

Knowlarity’s vision to help business grow with effective use of techonology has found an able commander in Ajay, who has been a thought leader and inventor of several engineering execution philosophies such as ‘Solver Teams’ and ‘Minimum Viable Technology’ (MVT). Ajay is 2005 graduate from International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bangalore.

Cloud Telephony Company Knowlarity Raises $20M in Series C Round Led by Delta Partners

Knowlarity, the leading cloud communications platform in emerging markets across Asia, has announced the successful raise of $20 million in its Series C funding round. The latest investment in Knowlarity, which is Asia’s largest cloud telephony company, was led by Dubai-based private equity firm Delta Partners. The round also saw participation from Knowlarity’s existing investors, Sequoia India and Mayfield, and included a small debt-based investment from Blacksoil and Trifecta Capital. Signal Hill, a leading independent M&A and private capital advisory firm was the exclusive financial advisor on this transaction. The latest investment takes the total funds raised by Knowlarity so far to $41 Million USD making it the most capitalised cloud telephony company in Asia.

The involvement of Delta Partners, which has a deep domain expertise in telecom technology in Africa and the Middle East, as well as its existing investors, underlines the trust that Knowlarity has generated in the global market. The funds raised would be used by Knowlarity to expand into other international markets, make acquisitions and invest in advanced technology products for its customers.

Speaking on the investment, Ambarish Gupta, Founder & CEO, Knowlarity, said, “The success of the latest funding round is a strong indication of the trust our investors have in our vision as well as in our strong focus on robust unit economics, which has seen us recently achieve EBITDA breakeven. We are excited about the investment and the quality of investors coming on board. With the domain expertise they bring on-board, we are confident that we will be able to provide even more innovative Consumer to Business Communication solutions to businesses around the world and establish ourselves as global leaders in the segment.”

Dominic Halfpenny, Partner at Delta Partners Capital, commented, “Knowlarity has established itself as the leading player in the Consumer to Business Communications industry in India, and is now exporting this expertise internationally, thanks to its superior product and relentless focus on customer service. The way customers and businesses communicate is in the midst of a profound transformation, enabled by new communication channels and the advent of Artificial Intelligence. In an age when customers’ demand for immediacy and first-class service is at an all-time high, those businesses with most efficient interactions with clients will benefit from unparalleled superiority in the market. We are excited to participate in this fascinating and fast-evolving industry and look forward to actively supporting the management team at Knowlarity reach the next level of growth both in India and internationally, in the Middle East, Africa and South-East Asia.”

Klaas Oskam, Managing Director of Signal Hill, commented, “We are excited to have acted as the financial advisor on this Series C round of financing for Knowlarity, after having worked with them for their earlier funding round as well. This transaction is testimony to the fact that quality businesses with strong underlying unit economics will continue to find growth capital even amidst more challenging funding environments. Kudos to Ambarish and his team on achieving this major milestone, which will enable Knowlarity to further cement its market leading position in the Indian cloud telephony market; as well as accelerate its international expansion.”

Having pioneered the technology of PSTN cloud telephony in India, Knowlarity currently serves more than 15,000 customers across several emerging markets. The company will look forward to keeping up its aggressive growth and expanding into more markets in the future as it sets its sights on becoming a leading global name in communications technology.

Knowlarity Joins Hands with NASSCOM-Incubated Social Venture LetsEndorse to Provide Cloud Telephony Services

Knowlarity the pioneer and leading provider of cloud based communications solutions to businesses in the emerging markets extended its communication solutions out of the realm of the corporate world to benefit 100 NGOs during the ‘Joy of Giving’ week. In order to help NGOs with sophisticated communication tools that can help them carry out their activities better, Knowlarity, in partnership with NASSCOM-incubated social venture LetsEndorse, gave away its flagship product, SuperReceptionist free of cost to the latter’s partner organizations.

SuperReceptionist, which integrates CRM, call recording and analytics into a single software, saves time and money, two precious resources for any organization seeking to make positive changes in society. It has the ability to process over a million calls in an hour ensuring that the organization never misses a lead or an important communication. Moreover, SuperReceptionist can customize call flow and can personalize sales and customer support.

Ambarish Gupta, Founder, Knowlarity, said “After contributing towards the communication requirements of several renowned business entities in the world, we felt that it was also our responsibility to provide services to the millions of organizations that are trying to bring in some much-needed change in the world we inhabit. It feels great to be a part of this initiative with LetsEndorse, which has been empowering NGOs with its self-produced technology. We are certain that the license to use SuperReceptionist will further boost the productivity and operations of the NGOs who are tirelessly working towards a better world.”

LetsEndorse Co-Founder Monika Shukla further added, “It is a major breakthrough for us and our partner NGOs to be receiving the technical expertise and support of a company such as Knowlarity. We strongly believe that technology is the greatest enabler to bring equality and efficiency in the socio-economic landscape. Solutions such as SuperReceptionist make the biggest difference to small and medium-sized business enterprises and more importantly to NGOs, who by leveraging its cloud telephony solutions can stay more accessible to partners and donors.”

The team of LetsEndorse recently visited Knowlarity’s Gurgaon office to conduct an interactive session on using technology for good, which saw excited participation from a variety of NGOs. Considering the success of the session, similar events have also been planned for Bangalore during the first week of October. They are likely to encourage other corporations to extend a helping hand towards the partner organizations of LetsEndorse which are making giant strides in the area of social change.

A Gurgaon based company founded in 2009, Knowlarity's products and services are actively adopted by more than 1 million users and is the largest provider of such services. Reflecting the true spirit of the ‘Make in India, for the world’, Knowlarity’s mission is to transform the business to customer communication industry in the emerging markets with personalization, automation, AI and analytics. Knowlarity’s flagship product is ‘Super Receptionist’, a plug-and play virtual contact center for a business. The company and has grown from scratch to a global venture with 300+ employees, 1000 partners and 8 offices in India, south east Asia and middle east.

It is backed by marquee investors like Sequoia Capital and Mayfield fund. Some of the key customers include Google, Amazon, Hero Motors, AirBnB, Uber, Practo, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Gaadi among others.

Cloud Telephony Company Knowlarity Buys Customer Engagement Platform Smartwards

Knowlarity Communications, Asia’s leading cloud telephony company has acquired Delhi-based Smartwards, a customer engagement platform that simplifies loyalty for local businesses and their customers. As part of the move, Shantanu Mathur and Dhanraj Singh Bisht - the co-founders of Smartwards, will lead the India operations for Knowlarity. The deal will see Knowlarity integrating the Smartwards product and technology into its own product ecosystem to provide enterprise software solutions to small & medium businesses.

Smartwards started operations in 2013 with a team of 6. The company‘s proprietary technology enables SMBs to identify, reward, engage customers, in-store and out-of-store. With presence in over 150 locations across 8 cities, Smartwards provided engagement solutions to local businesses, including restaurants, cafes, cinemas, salons and retail outlets.

In his new role as Country Head, Shantanu Mathur said, “The Smartwards team is very excited and is looking forward to being a part of the Knowlarity family. We share the larger vision of tackling this unique opportunity, not only in India but world over. Our journey in building a strong B2B2C product has been quite fascinating. We realized early, that to make a successful product for the Indian customer, one has to solve the problem in-depth and at-scale. However, the SME is not an easy market to crack in India and thus we were looking to move to a larger platform. With Knowlarity, we get the freedom and agility of a start up in a well-established organization”

Knowlarity was founded by Ambarish Gupta in 2009 to solve the pain points of managing calls and SMSes for companies, without getting into the hassles of a full-fledged call center or having to be bound to one phone. In the past 7 years, Knowlarity has grown into a 450 member powerhouse with more than 15,000 customers across 65 countries. It is backed by Sequoia Capital and Mayfield.

This is the second acquisition for Knowlarity, it earlier bought Unicom Techlabs Pvt. Ltd, another start-up in the same space in January 2014. The company faces direct competition from Exotel Techcom Pvt. Ltd and Ozonetel Systems Pvt. Ltd. In 2015, Exotel acquired Voyce, a platform that helps businesses collect customer feedback and Ozonetel bought the speech recognition business of Yantra Software, a provider of speech and voice technology products and services, in 2014.

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