eSelf Raises $4.5M Seed; Launches Platform for Face-to-Face AI Conversational Agents

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- eSelf, the platform for businesses to create face-to-face conversational AI agents, announced today the official launch of their solution alongside $4.5 million in Seed funding. The round was led by Explorer Investments, with participation from Ridge Ventures and strategic angel investors, including Eyal Manor, former VP of Engineering at YouTube and Chief Product & Engineering Officer at Twilio. eSelf has already powered millions of real-time conversations, with notable clients including Christie's, and Brazil's AGI Bank. The platform enables businesses to deploy highly customizable, human-like AI agents that interact seamlessly with customers through real-time video chats.

eSelf was founded by CEO Dr. Alan Bekker, a pioneer in deep learning in Israel and former Head of Conversational AI at Snap, and CTO Eylon Shoshan, an alumni of the prestigious 8200 intelligence unit with a master's in natural language processing from Technion. Dr. Bekker's previous venture Voca, which created human-like voice bots for call centers, was acquired by Snap for $100M. During his tenure at Snap, where he worked with its 400M+ daily active users and served as one of OpenAI's earliest design partners, Bekker recognized that businesses were seeking more immersive and natural ways to engage with customers at scale.

The co-founders developed eSelf's platform to enable businesses to create and deploy customized AI agents that can engage in face-to-face video conversations with customers, while seamlessly integrating with existing business systems and processes. Through the company's self-service studio, businesses can configure their agents' personality, knowledge base, and capabilities without requiring technical expertise. The platform integrates directly with business tools like Salesforce and Calendly, allowing agents to access real-time information about products and services, and perform actions such as scheduling appointments.

"We've developed a unified engine that processes speech, understanding, and visual elements simultaneously, allowing us to achieve response times of under one second which is crucial for natural conversation," said Dr. Bekker. "Unlike other solutions that simply animate faces for voice responses, our platform is a complete visual comprehension engine. This means our AI agents can actively engage with visuals in real-time — showcasing property tours, educational content, or presentation slides during conversations. By enabling businesses to create sophisticated, customized agents through our self-service studio, we aim to transform how they engage with customers at scale."

Christie's is using eSelf's AI agent for its Portugal real estate brokerage firm as a first point of contact for potential buyers. The AI real estate agent qualifies leads by inquiring about buyers' requirements and budget, then draws from Christie's property database in real-time to showcase relevant listings, complete with images and property details. At AGI Bank, one of Brazil's largest digital banks with over 10 million customers, virtual support agents help users navigate digital banking services, while DL Holdings, a Hong Kong financial services firm, employs multilingual eSelf agents to provide financial advisory services in both English and Mandarin.

"Since implementing eSelf's AI agents, we've seen a significant increase in our ROI," said João Cília, CEO of Christie's Porta da Frente. "These AI-powered agents have transformed our customer engagement, providing personalized, real-time interactions 24/7 that were previously impossible. By easing the property discovery process for clients and offering immediate support, we've seen stronger client relationships and more streamlined operations. eSelf has truly redefined how we connect with our clients digitally, making our team more efficient and our client satisfaction levels higher than ever."

"The conversational AI space is evolving rapidly, but very few teams combine deep technical expertise with proven commercial success in this domain," said Pedro Correia de Barros of Explorer Investments. "Dr. Bekker and the eSelf team have not only developed breakthrough technology for real-time face-to-face AI interactions, but they've also made it accessible to enterprises through a no-code platform. Their early traction with global customers like Christie's demonstrates the strong demand for more human-like digital interactions, and we believe eSelf is perfectly positioned to lead this next wave of customer engagement."

While eSelf's core focus is providing enterprise solutions, the company has also observed significant organic consumer interest in face-to-face AI interactions. After implementing a demo on their website, eSelf discovered hundreds of thousands of users engaging in millions of conversations with their AI agents, particularly in the U.S. market. This unexpected consumer demand has provided valuable insights for improving the platform's conversational capabilities. The company remains focused on developing its enterprise solution and expanding its business customer base, while providing access to individual users.

SOURCE eSelf