Zendesk officially launched its global venture fund to back AI-first companies focused on enhancing customer and employee experiences.

Zendesk Ventures also announced new investments in PolyAI, a developer of advanced conversational voice assistants, and unitQ, an AI-powered product quality platform. The fund empowers emerging companies to unlock their potential by providing capital, CX and AI expertise, and strategic partnership opportunities for growth and innovation.

“Every organization is on a path to becoming AI-driven, and we’re eager to form partnerships with companies leading this new era,”

said Ben Barclay, SVP of Strategy, Corporate Development, & Transformation, Zendesk.

“Our goal extends beyond building our own products; we’re also supporting an ecosystem of startups whose visions align with ours. Customer and employee service is changing rapidly because of advancements in AI. Investing in these companies does more than drive their growth, it elevates our customers’ ability to provide exceptional interactions.”

The Zendesk Ventures portfolio already includes conversational intelligence platform Observe.AI, and field service management software provider, Zuper. The two new portfolio additions announced today are focused on AI-powered CX and operational efficiency:

• PolyAI, a voice-focused solution, allows Zendesk customers to handle complex interactions such as order tracking and delivery updates as natural as a human conversation. This capability has increased revenue for customers across a variety of industries while also reducing human agent call volumes and time spent on inquiries.
• unitQ, an AI-powered product quality platform, enables businesses by efficiently collecting and analyzing customer interactions and feedback across a range of 60+ sources in real-time, to pinpoint the root cause of all user fiction and improve Net Promoter Scores (NPS).

Beyond capital, Zendesk Ventures offers access to CX and AI experts, strategic partnership opportunities to accelerate growth and innovation, and the chance to be featured on Zendesk Marketplace.

Featured image credit: Ben Barclay, SVP of Strategy, Corporate Development, & Transformation, Zendesk, edited from freepik