Berlin-based tech startup German Autolabs is committed to providing innovative AI-powered voice assistance for car users. The startup has just secured a fund infusion of €7 million for marketing its pioneering product Chris.
The financiers in the round include new investors nbr Tech Ventures, VC Fonds Technologie Berlin, managed by IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Coparion and existing investor Target Partners.
Investors’ point of views
Fabian von Kuenheim from nbr Tech Ventures stated, “We know Holger from previous ventures and are impressed by the team he and his co-founder Patrick Weissert have put together. Knowing the automotive industry well, we believe Holger and Patrick are spearheading a very powerful approach to voice and gesture interfaces for Automotive. We are long term investors and want to support German Autolabs in building something truly big.”
Berthold von Freyberg from Target Partners shared, “When we first invested into German Autolabs no one really saw the power and rise of voice assistants. Now everyone is aware of this strong new paradigm of interaction. The timing is perfect for German Autolabs to play a lead role in this exciting development.”
Chris – the foremost digital co-driver
Launched in 2018, Chris is the world’s first AI-driven voice assistant for car drivers constituting the largest armada of connected and voice AI-powered cars on the street. German Autolabs has collaborated with the French telecoms giant Orange to facilitate car drivers with ‘Djingo’ service. Besides, talks are undergoing with other key players in the automotive industry for offering more smart features.
Headquartered in Berlin, German Autolabs was founded in 2016 by Holger G. Weiss and Patrick Weissert to deliver a best-in-class assistant solution for the automotive industry. The startup escalated rapidly in the European automotive market by leveraging AI / NLP models.
German Autolabs specialises in the multimodal hybrid (offline/online) Dialogue Management System, extensive driver behavioural domain insight and OS-agnostic access to APIs and other assistance services.
Voice AI cloud platform
German Autolabs will utilise the fresh capital to steer the marketing strategy for Chris and boost research and development of its voice AI cloud platform for Automotive and allied areas including fleet operators and insurance services.
Holger G. Weiss, co-founder and CEO of German Autolabs articulated, “With the growing success of voice AI, the need for vertical solutions in the automotive sector will soar. Key differentiators in this field are data safety, domain knowledge and customer touchpoints. This is not competitive to the horizontal players such as Amazon or Google – it’s the complementary vertical approach. Further, since the production cycles in automotive are traditionally too long to build and train AI in an iterative way, German Autolabs’ unfair advantage is our aftermarket approach.”
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