Intelligent visual assistance and remote augmented reality start-up TechSee announced securing USD 30 million in a Series C round. TechSee, based in New York and Tel Aviv, bridges a visual gap between the customers at home and technicians in the field, with experts as guests, by allowing consumers to broadcast what they can see and receive visual guidance via smartphone.
Innovations are being made in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) by implementing the use of computer vision. The vision further helps identify common components and issues with operating and troubleshooting network devices, home appliances, smart home products, and more. TechSee as an AI platform will work efficiently by identifying parts, such as LED indicators and ports, while working in the direction of detecting issues and suggesting fixes for contact agents, customers, and technicians.
“There has been a significant increase in demand for contactless customer service technologies propelled by COVID-19 social distancing requirements and the acceleration of digital transformation projects,” said Eitan Cohen, Chief Executive of TechSee. “Our visual automation technology is at the heart of it, and now that momentum is growing exponentially as businesses seek to reduce costs. Our vision is to get rid of the user manual and replace it with dynamic AR assistants.”
Eitan Cohen says that after the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for more remote solutions is becoming the highlight to serve the customer needs. The trend of sending field technicians to customer’s homes has become a less viable solution. Therefore, enterprises are simply going toward remote solutions. So, looking at the need, TechSee announced a commercial partnership with Verizon to address this issue by bringing virtual assistance to customers.
“This new tool gives us the ability to provide the excellent service our customers deserve while minimizing the need for in-person interaction in these unprecedented times,” said Kevin Service, Senior Vice President of Operations for Verizon. “We know how critical communication is, especially now as more and more people are working from home, engaging in distance learning and moving their family and friend interactions online.”
“Remote Visual Assistance is becoming an imperative technology for any customer-centric enterprise operating at scale,” said Alex Kayyal, Partner and Head of International at Salesforce Ventures. “The potential upside for the business and the customer is difficult to ignore.”
Including the previous funding round led by OurCrowd, Salesforce Ventures, TELUS Ventures, Scale Ventures Partners, and Planven Entrepreneur Ventures brings the total amount raised to USD 54 million. This start-up intends to work in a direction to continue researching on the remote AR assistance technology. And moving forward, the start-up will work on developing the AI component detection technology and introduce troubleshooting features for customers and technicians globally.
