The Future of Customer Interaction: AI Voice Agents
French startup Rounded is pioneering a new approach to AI-powered customer service. Rather than offering pre-built solutions, the company has developed an innovative orchestration platform that enables businesses to create customized AI voice agents tailored to their specific needs.
From Web3 to Voice AI: Rounded’s Evolution
Founded initially as a web3 venture, Rounded shifted its focus to AI voice technology in June 2023. Co-founder Aymeric Vaudelin explained their early approach: “We initially thought simply connecting ChatGPT between a transcriber and synthesizer would create value.” However, the team quickly encountered the classic startup challenge of finding product-market fit.
Donna: The Proof of Concept
Their solution came in the form of Donna, an AI voice agent specifically designed for anesthetists. This niche was strategically chosen because:
- Anesthesia secretaries handle high call volumes
- Interactions are typically transactional
- Calls don’t require persuasive sales techniques
In France’s healthcare system, preoperative anesthesia consultations are mandatory but routine, making them ideal for AI automation. Despite initial technical challenges (including 4-6 second latency periods), Donna successfully:
- Was adopted by 15 private hospitals
- Processed hundreds of thousands of conversations
- Achieved response times under 700 milliseconds
The Rounded Platform: Democratizing Voice AI
Building on Donna’s success, Rounded expanded its offering to create a comprehensive orchestration platform that:
Integrates Best-in-Class AI Models
- Speech-to-text transcription
- Large Language Models (LLMs)
- Text-to-speech synthesis
Provides Customization Tools
- Instruction tree configuration
- Prompt engineering
- Parameter optimization
Supports Iterative Development
- Continuous improvement cycles
- Performance monitoring
- Reliability enhancements
“Our value proposition is enabling anyone to create highly effective voice agents through proper prompting and parameterization,” Vaudelin explained. “We support the entire iteration process to develop super-reliable solutions.”
Funding and Future Prospects
With €600,000 (approximately $620,000) in initial funding from UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator and angel investors, Rounded is well-positioned in the booming AI sector. As voice-based AI interactions become increasingly mainstream, the company’s flexible platform approach offers significant growth potential across multiple industries.
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