Perhaps no space is more ripe for an AI takeover than the contact centers industry — and VC investors seem to agree.

Ujet, an AI-powered cloud contact center startup, locked up a $76 million Series D led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from new investors KeyBank and Ion Pacific, and existing investors GV, Kleiner Perkins, Citi Ventures, DCM Ventures and Ericsson Ventures.

The cash infusion values the company at $500 million, per Bloomberg.

The San Francisco-based startup’s platform allows clients to use generative AI technologies for “more efficient, hyper-personalized customer experiences at enterprise scale,” according to the company’s release.

“Generative AI has moved beyond an experiment or a chatbot replacement exercise to become the catalyst for leapfrog improvements in CX,” co-founder and CEO Anand Janefalkar said in the release. “Human-sounding conversations alone are no longer sufficient, as people now regularly communicate via chat or voice conversations overlaid with rich media. With generative AI, we can transform these conversations into high bandwidth visual and contextual interactions.”

Founded in 2015, the company has raised $177 million, per Crunchbase.

Ripe for disruption

Contact and customer service centers are an obvious use for the ever-improving conversational AI technologies being produced. More AI means fewer people needed to take or route calls and perhaps even more efficiency for large companies using it.

That’s likely why investors have funded a slew of startups this year such as Level AI, Parloa and several others that have received investment this year.

There is no reason to expect those deals to stop.

Illustration: Dom Guzman