Simple AI, a voice AI agent platform, has raised $14 million in a seed round led by First Harmonic, with participation from Y Combinator, Massive Tech Ventures, and True Ventures. The San Francisco-based startup said the funding will support continued development of its voice agent platform, including custom generative AI models, as well as analytics and customer insights for businesses of all sizes.
The company builds voice AI agents designed to automate inbound phone calls for sales and customer support. Simple AI said its platform can ingest a customer’s full product catalog, including SKUs, metadata, and pricing, and then use real-time customer data during calls to personalize interactions and take actions such as placing orders. After each call, the platform generates a transcript, a summary, and what it describes as actionable insights.
Simple AI is positioning latency as a core differentiator for voice. The company said it keeps end-to-end system latency under 850 milliseconds across voice activity detection, end-of-turn modeling, transcription, inference, and text-to-speech, with the goal of enabling more natural conversations between consumers and AI agents.
The startup also argues that its technology addresses common contact center issues, including seasonal volume spikes, uneven rep performance, and inconsistency. It said the system can scale up during demand surges, learn from a business’s best representatives, and deliver consistent performance. Simple AI also offers experimentation tools that let customers adjust an agent’s speed, gender, and accent, and tailor calls using customer item preferences and purchase history.
Simple AI said its agents are already being used by businesses selling products and services ranging from steak and self-storage to home insurance. The company claims its agents can convert and upsell up to 30% more often than trained live representatives.
Simple AI was founded by Catheryn Li and Zach Kamran, who met while leading separate software teams at Y Combinator. The company said it is initially focused on inbound and outbound B2C calls for consumer brands, starting with sales and expanding across the broader customer experience.
KEY QUOTES
“People hate calling businesses today because the experience is terrible. When voice agents are so good at their job that it becomes a delightful experience, everyone will prefer calling again. Phone calls will increase because voice is the most natural way to express yourself and interact with the world. Building voice agents that outperform human sales teams is a complex task, and I’m immensely proud of what our team has achieved.”
Catheryn Li, Co-Founder And Chief Executive Officer, Simple AI
“Imagine your top performing rep picking up every call. Simple agents know every detail about every product SKU, and all of your customer preferences in an instant.”
Zach Kamran, Co-Founder And Chief Technology Officer, Simple AI
“Cat and Zach are among the best we work with. Without fanfare, they quietly built their own entire voice AI stack from the ground up so that they could have the best product. They’re both great engineers, low on ego, and customer-obsessed — exactly what you look for in great founders.”
JJ Fliegelman, Partner, First Harmonic
