Startups are using artificial intelligence (AI) in diverse processes such as employee hiring, personal assistants, chatbots and more. Global chatbot market is expected to reach $1.23 billion by 2025, this is an annual growth rate of 24.3 percent, reports Grand View Research.
It is fueled by the rise in the number of smart devices, voice recognition advances, and AI-powered apps we use today.
To help fill the market gap, an 18-year-old French high school dropout Mathis André, along with Denny Wong, 43, a Malaysian living in Belgium co-founded FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) chatbot platform named Faqbot.
Powered by a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) engine, Faqbot will reduce the number of customer support reps a company needs to handle incoming customer queries.
Belgian business angels dole out half a million Euros for Faqbot
Faqbot has so far raised half a million euro from prominent Belgian business angels. Funding also includes public funds aimed at helping the startup speed up its customer development and scaling efforts.
“What differentiate our AI engine is that it is optimised for frequently asked questions (FAQ) and uses latest natural language processing (NLP) technologies”, said Mathis André, founder and CEO of Faqbot.
Expanding internationally
Faqbot’s platform already supports English, French, and Dutch languages. However, in its bid to make the platform internationally accessible, co-founder Mathis has other plans too.
“Last year, we have been focusing on Belgium and worked hard to refine our product and processes. We are excited to serve customers such as Decathlon, Ricoh, BESIX, Europ Assistance, ListMinut and many other prominent brands. It is important to build a strong base. Now it is time to go international!
Other Dutch startups harnessing AI to build chatbots
Faqbot is not alone in harnessing the power of artificial intelligence in building chatbots. Silicon Canals reported earlier this month that Dutch AI-tech startup Convious raised €3.6 million funding. Another Dutch company MedEye too uses AI in helping to administer medicine.
A platform approach
Faqbot’s strength comes from the startup’s focus on a single use case, that is helping customers use AI to answer FAQs. And, unlike other startups, Faqbot’s platform can be used by companies in various industries.
Some of Faqbot’s key features include the option of answering FAQs automatically, ability to build guided conversational flow, and the option to pass a question to your team. The starter package is priced at 249€ /mo followed by a standard package which is 499€ /mo.
With clients like Decathlon, Ricoh, BESIX, Europ Assistance, and ListMinut already under the belt, Faqbot is set to take a fair share of the industry that’s set to surpass in revenues in excess of billion dollars by 2025.
For more updates, stay tuned to Silicon Canals.
