i2x receives EUR 11 million and appoints second managing director
- Financing round led by UVC Partners and Bridge to Growth
- Alongside existing investors, Bridge to Growth and Heiko Hubertz join as new investors
- Stefan Walther, CTO of i2x, takes on role of Managing Director
- Investments of EUR 100 million in European real-time communication analysis and real-time coaching are planned by 2027
Berlin, 07/18/2022 – i2x, an innovative, AI-based solution for real-time communication analysis of phone calls and real-time coaching for agents, has secured EUR 11 million of new capital. Tech investor Bridge to Growth (BTG) and Heiko Hubertz, Germany’s most successful entrepreneur in the gaming sector, have joined previous investors such as UVC Partners, HV Holtzbrinck Venture, btov Partners, Discovery Ventures and Asgard. i2x has also expanded its management team and appointed Stefan Walther as Managing Director. In his new role, Walther, currently Chief Technology Officer at i2x, will drive continuous internationalization and a sustainable growth strategy.
i2x will use the new capital for the expansion of its solution for real-time communication analysis and real-time coaching, for further data protection features, the development of specific functionalities for German and European works councils and the expansion of its partner network. In total, i2x plans to invest EUR 100 million in the expansion of its proprietary technology by 2027. With this, the company is planning one of the largest private investment programs in the field of AI in the European region. To date, the company has already registered over ten patents, including in the areas of audio interface systems, accent and dialect processing, speech and audio data modification, and anonymization. By investing in technology and patents, i2x aims to further strengthen its position as one of the leading conversational AI companies in the world.
Today, i2x already analyzes and transcribes complex conversations in different languages in real time (less than 0.5 seconds). As a result, users receive live feedback and support to help them optimize their sales and service conversations. The solution is based on AI-supported speech recognition technology that captures emotions as well as content. i2x also generates AI-based, individually tailored feedback and training sessions for users. This provides each user with a kind of personal coach. According to previous evaluations, the revenue generated by employees with the help of i2x increased by up to 70 percent while maintaining the same cost structure. Companies were also able to increase employee satisfaction by around 15 percent and customer satisfaction by 30 percent.
Over the last 12 months, i2x has seen 400 percent growth in both customers and revenue. With the appointment of Stefan Walther as a second managing director, i2x is preparing for further strong growth. Walther joined i2x as CTO in January 2020, and during his tenure has prioritized i2x’s transformation into the most innovative and user-friendly communication analytics and training solution. Most recently, he developed a tool for agents to measure customer satisfaction, emotion and charisma in a conversation. Prior to i2x, Stefan Walther spent almost ten years working at Qlik, a cloud-based end-to-end platform for real-time data integration and analysis, where he held several roles – most recently Associate Vice President of Research & Development.
“We are very pleased that our existing investors as well as prominent new investors have placed their trust in i2x and continue to support our vision. With strong partners like UVC Partners with its expertise in building B2B companies, BTG with its many years of experience in scaling companies, and Heiko Hubertz with his knowledge of influencing human behavior, we are well placed to achieve our ambitious goals,” says Michael Brehm, founder of i2x.
“Our vision is to provide AI-powered, personalized recommendations, training content and real-time coaching to every customer advisor and agent. With our latest, unique feature in the area of customer satisfaction, we are realizing the collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence in the best possible sense,” says Stefan Walther, giving an outlook on the near future. “It’s also important to me that we don’t just fully comply with European data protection regulations, but that we actually go one step further. That's why we're developing procedures that provide individualized support and guidance while fully protecting the privacy of the individual.”
“We see i2x and its AI solution as a unique player in the European space. The speed of transcription, speech analysis and feedback for users, coupled with the very high standard of data protection, makes i2x currently the most attractive provider of support for call center staff in the areas of sales and customer service. We are therefore looking forward to continue partnering with them as they keep growing,” says Ingo Potthof, Managing Partner at UVC Partners.
“Human augmentation is the future. Forecasts for global market growth in this sector are in the double digits for the next few years. This is exactly where i2x's solution is focused, with the aim of helping people take communication to a whole new level. We are excited to be a part of this development,” says Götz Gleichmann, Partner at BTG.
“I am particularly interested in the automated coaching aspect of i2x with its gamification elements. The software focuses on people and helps them to improve their conversational skills in a fun and completely individualized way that enables them to reach their full potential,” says Heiko Hubertz.
About i2x
i2x is an innovative, AI-based platform for communication analysis and coaching. The software analyzes and transcribes complex conversations in several languages in real-time (less than 0,5 seconds). Users receive live feedback and assistance to help optimize their sales and service conversations. The system uses speech recognition technology powered by artificial intelligence that captures emotions as well as the content of a conversation. Moreover, i2x generates AI-based, individually tailored feedback and training sessions for its users.
The Berlin-based company currently employs 60 people. Its founder and managing director is Michael Brehm who is, among other things, the former managing director of studiVZ and co-founder of Redstone, one of Europe’s leading VC investors. i2x has received several awards, including the CCW Future Camp Award, the CCV Quality Award for the “Best IT Innovation” by the German Call Centers Federation and the title “Digital Startup of 2019” by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. In 2021, i2x was also honored with the Insurance Forums Rockstar Award.
About UVC Partners
UVC Partners is a Munich- and Berlin-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in European B2B startups in the areas of enterprise software, industrial technologies, and mobility. The fund typically invests between € 0.5m - 10m initially and up to € 30m in total per company. Portfolio companies benefit from the extensive investment and exit experience of the management team as well as from the close cooperation with UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s leading innovation, and business creation center. With over 300 employees and more than 100 industry partners, UnternehmerTUM can draw from many years of experience in establishing young companies. This cooperation enables UVC Partners to offer startups unique access to talent, industry customers, and other financial partners.
