Irish technology company Sweepr has raised $9 million (€8.2 million) in a series A funding round as it seeks to expand in North America and Europe.
The round is being led by Draper Esprit, with some participation from Frontline Ventures. The latter led a seed funding round for the company last year, raising €2.5 million.
"This raise is a big vote of confidence in our team and our vision for how technical support and customer care will be transformed by technologies like voice assistants and machine learning," said founder Alan Coleman.
“The amount we are raising is a direct reflection of the ambition we have to build a globally scalable company that can become a dominant player in this emerging space. It is also a reflection on the levels of enthusiasm we are seeing in the market for a solution like Sweepr.”
Mr Coleman, whose previous ventures include Britebill, said the money will be used to scale up Sweepr’s presence in its core markets, and also to expand its delivery and deployment capabilities.
Real-time advice
Sweepr makes it easier for customers to get help with their connected home, offering a voice-activated platform that is contextually adaptive and gives customers access to specific, relevant, customised help through instructions, pictures and video.
It means customers could ask why their Netflix account isn't loading, or what is wrong with the dishwasher, and get real-time advice in return. This could help solve an obstacle with the implementation of connected home devices.
“Customer support needs to evolve to accommodate the growing complexity of our connected home environments. Sweepr’s early deployments have confirmed that the care industry is ready to be transformed by moving the support from a within traditional call centre to within the home itself,” Mr Coleman said.
“Customers themselves can play a key role in support if its delivered in language they understand. This funding will enable us to continue to scale our organisation as we extend the live customer launches of the Sweepr platform, something we’re very excited about.”
The company, which was established in 2017, is expected to grow from about 25 today to up to 100 by the end of 2021. It recently moved offices in Dublin to facilitate the expansion, and opened a delivery centre in Madrid.
Transform customer experience
“Sweepr’s voice-activated platform has the potential to totally transform customer experience,” said Nicola McClafferty, investment director with Draper Esprit. “The millions of support calls happening globally, which frustrate customers and cost service providers billions each year, could be dramatically reduced as the technology enables consumers to find out what’s wrong in real-time. We believe Sweepr has a strategic role to play as the smart-home ecosystem grows at pace.”
Sweepr is also working with large ISPs and appliance manufacturers to roll out the platform to customers.
“One exciting development is how Sweepr will facilitate these companies to collaborate in order to assist customers with technical support more seamlessly in the future,” Mr Coleman said.
