Singapore-based SleekFlow provides an omnichannel conversational AI suite. An all-in-one platform, it enables businesses to craft “seamless”, personalised customer journeys across popular messaging channels like WhatsApp, Instagram, live chat, and more.

Last month, SleekFlow raised US$7 million in a Series A+ round led by South Korean VC firm Atinum Investment to fuel global expansion and advancements in AI technology.

e27 spoke with SleekFlow’s founder and CEO, Henson Tsai, to learn more about its products and expansion plans

What specific factors attracted Atinum and other investors to SleekFlow? What is the synergy here?

Our core product, the omnichannel conversational AI suite, should be one major factor. Conversational AI is a high-ceiling market ready to scale internationally, and it is in demand across industries, whether for sales, support, or marketing.

Besides, among our counterparts, SleekFlow is one of the Series A startups present globally and has set up international offices across different countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, the UAE and Brazil.

Atinum Investment invests in growth-stage startups in sectors like deeptech and healthcare. It has backed some famous startups in Asia, such as the ride-hailing giant Gojek and the travel platform Klook.

Also Read: Be adaptable and willing to challenge your previous beliefs: Henson Tsai of SleekFlow

Their Atinum Growth Investment Fund 2023, with US$624 million, aims to allocate 15-20 per cent of this fund to international investments, with approximately 70 per cent of that going to Southeast Asian startups.

As we have already expanded into Southeast Asia, we can see the synergy in our business strategy for global expansion.

With this new funding round, SleekFlow has raised a total of US$15 million. How will the additional funds be allocated between global expansion and AI tech innovation?

The new round of funding will accelerate SleekFlow’s global expansion plans, including further penetrating Southeast Asia (SEA) and the Middle East and tapping into European countries.

Funds will also be invested in AI tech innovation (including analytics and building marketing flows) and channel expansions (including calls and emails) to better serve our growing customer base worldwide.

Could you elaborate on your strategy for entering new markets like Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe? Which regions are you prioritising? Are there any specific partnerships or collaborations in these new markets that you’re exploring to facilitate your expansion?

Taking the Middle East as an example, we started tapping into the market solely through digital marketing channels, as we had inbound leads from the very beginning.

Then, we started investigating the market and trying to verify it, and we assigned a market launcher from Hong Kong to fly to Dubai to start building good use cases with customers on the ground.

We saw good tractions from local big retailers and successfully built the very first good use case with the reputable L’Occitane brand under the Chalhoub Group, subsequently kicking off SleekFlow’s market expansion into the Middle East.

How important is localisation in your global strategy, and how do you approach it?

Localisation is crucial in our global strategy for many reasons. One vital strategy in our localisation approach is by tailoring our products and services.

Different regions have unique preferences and needs. Therefore, we need to resonate our products with local markets as well as build trust and engagement with customers. Our approach to localisation includes:

• Adapting to the local languages of the markets.
• Having customised offerings (from sales services and products to customer support) tailored to each market.
• Setting local team support for customers and collaborating with local businesses and influencers to enhance credibility and reach.

Another vital step in localisation that we are undertaking is being locally relevant for better market penetration.

For example, in the UAE market, we focus on understanding ways to cater to retail, as there’s a huge demand for enhancing a smooth retail-to-online shopping experience. In Indonesia, social commerce is booming, so we work with more e-commerce businesses there. By prioritising localisation, we aim to foster deeper connections with customers worldwide.

You mentioned planning a Series B Fundraising in the next 12 months. What milestones do you aim to achieve before this next round of funding?

Some important business metrics include achieving ~ a 100 per cent revenue increase and increased ARPU (average revenue per user) by building more advanced features.

SleekFlow plans to offer fully automated sales and support journeys in voice, calls, and emails. How will these innovations improve customer engagement across different industries?

SleekFlow’s fully automated sales and support journeys in voice, calls, and emails improve customer engagement across different industries. Businesses can further improve customer engagement through:

24×7 availability: AI Automation allows companies to engage with customers at any time, which is particularly beneficial for industries like e-commerce, healthcare, and travel, where customers may need support outside regular business hours. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and a more personalised experience.

Improved efficiency and scalability: By automating repetitive tasks such as answering FAQs, booking appointments, or processing orders, businesses can handle a higher volume of interactions without compromising on quality. This is crucial for industries that experience high demand, like retail or tech support.

The conversational AI market is projected to grow significantly in the coming years. How does SleekFlow differentiate itself from competitors in this rapidly expanding market?

Our conversational AI solution is built for companies of all sizes to leverage AI on a daily basis. On average, SleekFlow users use the platform around four hours per day, reflecting its vitality as part of the business.

Also, compared to our competitors, we have a stronger international presence and support wider markets. Our product is ready for a wider use case globally with localised integrations.

With the conversational AI market expected to reach US$49.9 billion by 2030, how do you see the customer engagement landscape evolving?

Taking the US as an example, in the past, shopping mostly happened on a platform. This has evolved with more shopping actions (booking, making an appointment, purchase) facilitated through conversations, no matter which messaging channels are used. This is how the customer engagement landscape will evolve.

Also Read: Navigating the AI landscape in 2024: Why there is an urgency for enhanced governance

As AI technology becomes more sophisticated, businesses will increasingly leverage AI-driven tools to create personalised, responsive, and seamless customer experiences across multiple touchpoints. We are expecting some key developments in the customer engagement landscape, which include;

Omnichannel engagement: With the rise of conversational AI, customer engagement will become more integrated across various platforms—social media, chatbots, voice assistants, and even in-store interactions. Customers will enjoy a consistent experience regardless of how they choose to interact with a brand.

In 2022, SleekFlow’s platform enabled 32 million WhatsApp messages for over 5,000 customers across seven countries, boosting sales converted with chat by 3x. This only proves that businesses are increasingly embracing the growth of omnichannel engagement due to the overall transaction experience and the ROI of the business.

Human-AI operations/synergy: While AI will handle routine queries and tasks, human agents will focus on more complex and emotionally charged interactions. This mode of operation/synergy will elevate the quality of customer service.

AI requires training. To continuously improve AI, it requires a lot of data and integrations. SleekFlow’s software is an omnichannel suite with high integration flexibility via the Flow Builder feature, which fosters AI training.

In the future, SleekFlow will continue to serve as the backbone for all merchants’ conversational workflows, enabling an end-to-end purchasing cycle—from booking appointments to purchasing.

What are the key challenges you anticipate as SleekFlow expands globally and continues to innovate?

As SleekFlow expands globally, we’re anticipating some key challenges that include;

Resources/logistics management: Scaling operations globally demands efficient resource allocation in vital areas such as workforce management, logistics, and tech infrastructure.

Talent acquisition: Finding and retaining skilled talents in new markets can be competitive and challenging.

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Image Credit: SleekFlow.

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Malaysia’s connected roadside assistance solution provider, Bateriku, has raised US$7.4 million (RM34.7 million) in its Series B funding round from KWAP, Gobi Partners, SBI Capital, and VentureTECH.

The Selangor-based firm will use the money to expand across Malaysia as well as Southeast Asia, with Indonesia and Singapore in the first phase.

“This investment will fuel our mission to transform roadside assistance and reshape the automotive ecosystem,” said CEO Azarol Faizi.

Also Read: Malaysia’s pension fund KWAP invests in Antler, Lapasar, Vynn Capital, Bateriku

Established in March 2014, Bateriku.com began as an on-demand car battery replacement service. The startup has now evolved into an ecosystem that connects car users with roadside assistance, trusted workshops, an auto parts marketplace, and ancillary services.

Bateriku.com’s extensive network includes nearly 200 Pitstop outlets across Malaysia and its first international outpost in South Jakarta, Indonesia. Its ecosystem comprises over 1,000 trained gig technicians (BHero), 78 entrepreneurs (BPreneur), and close to 3,000 workshop and auto part partners (BBuddy), all coordinated through a 24x7x365 contact centre that connects customers to the nearest service providers.

The firm employs 382 people and has built its ecosystem by training nearly 1,000 gig mobile technicians (BHeroes), developing 78 entrepreneurs (BPreneurs), and onboarding approximately 2,000 car workshops (BBuddies).

Bateriku provides centralised training to internal and external parties through Akademi Bateriku – a training institution endorsed by the Department of Skills Malaysia (JPK) and the National Dual Training System (SLDN) under the Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia.

In 2022, the company launched Akademi Bateriku to provide reskilling and up-skilling programmes for automotive professionals within its ecosystem. To date, nearly 2,000  Malaysians have benefitted from this.

While the battery business remains at the heart of Bateriku.com’s operations, environmental sustainability is a core priority, says the company. Its’ Go Recon Save The World’ initiative focuses on reconditioning and recycling batteries, ensuring they are reused, repaired, or responsibly recycled. This initiative supports Bateriku.com’s nationwide warranty and after-sales programmes, with non-reconditionable batteries processed by licensed smelters approved by the Department of Environment (DOE).

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“To give some perspective, approximately 500,000 car batteries are being replaced every month in Malaysia, which indicates roughly 10,000 tonnes of used batteries are being disposed of each month. Bateriku.com collects slightly less than 1,000 used car batteries every month from our customers across the nation. It’s our responsibility and in our best interest that our customers are educated on the impact of properly used battery disposal on the environment, particularly through our ‘Go Recon Save The World’ initiative,” Faizi added.

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Southeast Asian angel investor club AngelCentral today announced its third annual Angel Investor Behavioural Survey Report for 2024, revealing that 80.6 per cent of surveyed angel investors in the region express optimism about the startup ecosystem over the next five to 10 years.

The report also stated that twice as many angels reported gains on their overall portfolios compared to those who have experienced losses.

Additionally, over 36 per cent of angel investors are new to the scene and have opportunistically started their activities in the last two years, demonstrating a continued influx of interest even amid a challenging funding environment.

The report revealed that many angel investors have adapted to the market’s volatility and valuation shifts by implementing various risk mitigation strategies.

Seventy-four per cent reported overall portfolio diversification beyond startups, with most investing less than 10 per cent of their assets in this space. Furthermore, 61.1 per cent are leveraging syndicates to enhance peer learning and validate investment opportunities, while 26.4 per cent have reduced their ticket sizes for each angel investment.

Also Read: Investing in a better future: Why sustainable investment matters

“I am pleasantly surprised and happy with the maturity of our angel investors. Rather than making knee-jerk reactions
to the market’s gyrations, ASEAN angels have remained focused on the long-term growth story of the startup space and are also actively mitigating their risks,” shared Huang Shao-Ning, Chief Angel at AngelCentral.

“We see similar trends within our club, where most of our member angels now prefer to invest with smaller ticket sizes and via syndicates. Although our total club funding this year remains the same as in 2023, we are witnessing a record influx of new angels joining our club in the past six months.”

The report stated that when evaluating startups for investment, angel investors prioritise potential business opportunities and the strength of the founding team. They also consider founders’ ethical beliefs a common deciding factor.

Interestingly, 30.6 per cent of respondents are new to angel investing with less than two years of experience. The profile of the angel investors remains unchanged, with more than 80 per cent being men in their 40s to 50s who work in a corporate role or who are business owners.

This year’s survey gathers insights from over 70 Southeast Asian angel investors regarding their angel investments. The survey aims to understand the evolving perspectives and strategies of angel investors and provide valuable insights into their investment approach, evaluation processes, returns, and overall mindset.

Also Read: Cyber risk management startup Protos Labs lands US$2.3M investment

The survey defines angel investors as individuals who invest personal money, time, and networks into early-stage companies that are typically in the initial 12-36 months of their operations.

The investment can be made directly (the angel becomes a direct shareholder of the investee company) or indirectly (the investment is syndicated via a special purpose vehicle or informally via another person’s name).

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Image Credit: rawpixel, 123RF Free Images

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How do you convince lawyers to embrace digital transformation by using AI in their practices? Lawdify may have the answer.

The company offers AI-driven SaaS solutions tailored specifically for legal professionals. It creates AI agents designed to manage specialised, labour-intensive, and high-stakes tasks in the legal field.

These AI tools intend to significantly reduce the manual effort required for tasks such as document tracking, review, and analysis, thereby addressing a critical pain point that has long plagued the legal profession.

Lawdify CEO and Founder Eliza Jiang, who has over a decade of experience in private legal practice, identifies the inefficiencies in traditional legal workflows. Before entering law, she worked in accounting, where tools like spreadsheets were essential for distilling large volumes of data into actionable insights. However, upon transitioning to law, she found no comparable tools to assist in analysing and synthesising textual data.

This realisation drove her to create a solution that could automate the tedious and time-consuming process of organising case documents into actionable summaries.

Also Read: 7 common legal pitfalls startup founders should avoid

“When we started designing, I knew I wanted the tool to be one I wished I had throughout my 10 years of practice. We are confident that the tool will become indispensable to lawyers worldwide,” she explains.

“With this in mind, I leveraged my expertise in legal workflows (i.e. the way lawyers review documents, summarise data, put together their legal claims, and draft their pleadings) to create a product that can be easily entrenched in these workflows. We then outlined the user journey to distil, analyse, and summarise data from documents in various tables. Involving the engineering team at every step of the process, we wireframed the different front-end and back-end requirements to align with this user journey to deliver the results the users need.”

Lawdify is making significant strides in the legal tech industry, focusing on high-profile and reputable dispute teams across major legal hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, London, and Toronto.

The company’s AI-driven tool is jurisdiction-agnostic, making it versatile and applicable across legal systems.

Initially targeting boutique law firms with a dispute practice, Lawdify plans to expand its reach to corporate practice groups in Q4 2024 following the commercial launch of its product.

Tackling barriers to entry

During a panel session at the UNCITRAL Academy Conference 2024, Jiang addresses the concerns surrounding the integration of AI in the legal industry.

Also Read: Why offshoring your data parsing processes could be your legal tech startup’s secret weapon

Built on enterprise-grade versions of large language models, Lawdify’s applications prioritise data security by storing information in isolated instances on major enterprise cloud services such as Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Cloud Services. This approach guarantees that client data remains secure while providing powerful AI tools tailored for legal professionals.

When asked about the possible barriers of entry for lawyers to use its product, Jiang reveals that apart from trust and data privacy, there are other issues, such as tech products not considering lawyers’ input in their development process and lawyers’ hesitancy to adopt new technology that is deemed too complex.

“That is why when we design our platform, we ensure that Lawdify is built with an intuitive user interface to easily set up summary tables in which content can be generated in seconds. This function is not entirely new, as summarising data in tables is something that lawyers already do with Word and Excel. Lawdify simplifies this process,” Jiang says.

Lawdify operates on a SaaS subscription model, offering its AI-powered tools with a generation limit tailored to the needs of legal professionals.

The company has successfully raised external funding to support its growth and development.

In 2024, its primary focus is on the commercial launch of its product worldwide, scheduled for Q4, marking a significant milestone in its expansion strategy.

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Image Credit: Lawdify

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Not too long ago, chatbots were like overenthusiastic customer service agents with a one-track mind: they followed a fixed set of rules and didn’t handle small talk very well. Ask them anything outside their rigid script, and you’d be met with confusion — or worse, repeated display of the menu options. Fast forward to today, and chatbots have gone through a renaissance, evolving into highly sophisticated AI agents powered by large language models (LLMs).

These chatbots are no longer just answering questions; they’re holding conversations, understanding context, and delivering responses that feel more human than machine. It’s not just about resolving customer queries anymore — it’s about shaping the future of customer experience, one intelligent conversation at a time.

From rule-followers to game-changers

Remember when chatbots would only respond based on a predefined script? These rule-based bots were the pioneers of automated customer service, helping businesses answer basic inquiries at scale. While they were a significant step forward, they had one major flaw — they were only as smart as their programming. Step out of line with your questions, and you’ll be quickly reminded that you are talking to a robot.

But now, chatbots have had their “glow-up.” Thanks to advancements in AI, particularly in large language models like GPT-4, chatbots are moving beyond simple “if this, then that” frameworks. Today’s AI agents are conversational dynamos, learning and adapting as they go. They understand context, emotion, and even intent. It’s as if chatbots have been to charm school — except their training comes from massive datasets and cutting-edge algorithms.

For example, consider LLM-powered models like ChatGPT or Google’s Bard. These models can handle anything from running research to provide complex technical support, all while maintaining a conversational tone that feels natural. The shift from rule-based systems to AI-powered agents has enabled businesses to provide a level of personalisation that was once thought impossible. It’s a whole new chapter in customer engagement, where chatbots can empathise, problem-solve, and even crack a joke or two.

Also Read: The art of AI integration: Growing your business with chatbots and human expertise

Let’s talk numbers

The rise of AI chatbots isn’t just a passing trend; it’s revolutionising industries across the board. According to a report by Juniper Research, the global operational cost savings from using chatbots has reached $11 billion in 2023. That’s not just a drop in the bucket — that’s a tidal wave of savings, driven by these sophisticated AI models.

But the impact of AI chatbots goes far beyond the bottom line. Studies show that companies using chatbots see a 30 per cent increase in customer satisfaction rates. With their ability to provide quick, personalised responses, chatbots keep customers engaged and happy, improving retention rates significantly. After all, a customer who feels heard is a customer who comes back.

Real conversations, real impact

What’s behind this evolution? Large language models like GPT-4 and its counterparts have fundamentally changed the chatbot game. These models are trained on vast amounts of text, and data, enabling them to predict and generate human-like responses. This predictive ability allows chatbots to understand not just what a user is asking but why they’re asking it. Suddenly, conversations that felt stilted and robotic now flow naturally, like chatting with a knowledgeable and friendly agent.

Take, for instance, a chatbot for an online clothing retailer. A rule-based bot might only be able to answer whether an item is in stock. An LLM-powered AI agent, on the other hand, can engage in a more complex conversation: suggesting outfit pairings, taking note of personal preferences, and even offering advice based past shopping data. It’s like having a personal shopper in your pocket — and it’s all powered by AI.

These intelligent agents are also transforming customer service in industries like banking, healthcare, and travel. Instead of waiting on hold for hours, customers can interact with AI agents that provide real-time assistance, personalised advice, and fast resolutions. Imagine resolving a flight delay, asking for a refund, and even rebooking — all without ever speaking to a human agent. The AI takes care of it, efficiently and without the wait times that have long plagued customer service lines.

The future of conversational AI

If the past few years have shown us anything, it’s that AI chatbots are no longer just tools — they’re partners in customer engagement. But what’s next?

Also Read: Navigating the AI landscape in 2024: Why there is an urgency for enhanced governance

We’re moving toward a world where AI agents won’t just respond to queries but anticipate them. Imagine a chatbot that knows your preferences before you even ask, offering suggestions that feel like they were pulled from your own thoughts. With advancements in machine learning, AI agents will soon be able to predict customer needs with astonishing accuracy. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80 per cent of customer interactions will be handled by AI.

As businesses continue to adopt AI, the chatbots of tomorrow will be indistinguishable from human agents in terms of their conversational ability. But don’t worry — AI agents won’t be replacing humans entirely. Instead, they’ll work alongside them, handling routine tasks while freeing up human agents to tackle more complex issues. It’s the ultimate tag team: AI and humans working together to deliver the best possible customer experience.

Wrapping it all up

AI-powered chatbots have come a long way from their rule-based ancestors. They’ve evolved from robotic responders into conversational partners, revolutionising customer engagement across industries. The power of LLMs has made these bots smarter, more human-like, and capable of driving real business impact. So, whether you’re looking to boost customer satisfaction, save costs, or stay ahead of the competition, investing in AI chatbots is no longer a question of “if,” but “when.”

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