telli has raised $15 million in a seed financing round to expand its artificial intelligence agents for customer-facing business operations. The round was led by Redalpine, with participation from Cherry Ventures and Y Combinator. Strategic investors and angel investors also joined the financing. The new capital brings telli’s total funding to $18.5 million.
telli plans to use the financing to expand internationally and develop additional products for business-to-consumer companies managing large volumes of customer interactions.
Over the past year, telli’s AI agents have handled millions of conversations for companies including Sky, Viessmann, Enpal, Vaillant, 1KOMMA5 and Clark.
The platform is designed to help consumer-facing businesses communicate with customers across channels such as phone calls, WhatsApp, online chat and email. telli also expects personal AI agents to become another important channel through which consumers interact with companies.
Managing customer operations across several channels can be difficult for large businesses. Customers may begin a conversation in one channel, continue it through another and expect the company to retain the context of their questions, preferences and prior interactions.
Consumers increasingly expect immediate answers, personalized recommendations and consistent service regardless of when or how they contact a business. Delivering that experience through human teams alone can be expensive and difficult to scale across millions of interactions.
telli’s AI agents are intended to automate portions of these conversations while maintaining a personalized customer experience.
The technology can potentially support tasks such as answering questions, qualifying customer needs, recommending relevant products or services, scheduling follow-ups and routing more complex cases to human employees.
Rather than operating only as a general customer support chatbot, telli is positioning its platform as infrastructure for broader customer-facing operations.
These operations can include sales, customer service, appointment scheduling, account management, retention and other interactions that affect the relationship between a business and its customers.
The company is focused primarily on B2C organizations for which conversations are a core part of acquiring, serving and retaining customers.
For businesses in sectors such as telecommunications, energy, insurance and home services, customer conversations can involve complex products, individualized pricing and multiple steps before a transaction is completed.
AI agents can help companies manage routine or repetitive interactions while allowing employees to spend more time on cases requiring judgment, negotiation or specialized knowledge.
telli’s customer base includes several prominent European consumer brands. Sky operates subscription television and entertainment services, while Viessmann, Vaillant, Enpal and 1KOMMA5 operate across energy, heating and home electrification markets. Clark provides digital insurance services.
The range of customers indicates that telli’s technology is being applied across industries where companies must manage substantial volumes of customer inquiries and sales conversations.
The platform’s international expansion could bring telli into additional markets where businesses face similar challenges involving multilingual service, fragmented communication channels and increasing expectations for around-the-clock availability.
The company is also developing new products around its broader mission of helping B2C businesses make customer operations faster, more intelligent and more effective.
telli co-founder Finn zur Mühlen said the company’s experience handling millions of customer interactions provided a clear view of the operational challenges facing consumer businesses.
The company believes customer communication will continue moving beyond traditional channels as consumers increasingly rely on personal AI systems to research products, compare offers and communicate with businesses on their behalf.
This shift could require companies to develop systems capable of interacting not only with people but also with automated agents representing individual customers.
telli’s financing will support the team as it scales its technology, enters new markets and extends the platform into additional customer-facing workflows.
KEY QUOTE:
“Over the past year, telli’s AI agents have handled millions of conversations for B2C companies like Sky, Viessmann, Enpal, Vaillant, 1KOMMA5, and Clark.”
“Customers want to communicate with businesses whenever they want and wherever they are, be it phone, WhatsApp, chat, email or soon: personal agents. They expect a smooth experience with instant answers, customized offers, and a personal touch.”
“With this, we are expanding globally and into new products with the same mission: helping every B2C company run customer operations that are faster, smarter, and better for customers.”
Finn zur Mühlen, Co-Founder of telli
