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DXwand , a Cairo- and Dubai - based startup that leverages colloquial AI to avail businesses in the Middle East automate client help and employee assist , has prove $ 4 million in Series A funding .
UAE - based Shorooq Partners and Cairo - headquarter business firm Algebra Ventures led the investment , with survive investor Dubai Future District Fund also participating . The Series A investment will assist DXwand in lucubrate further in the MENA part and accelerate its research and evolution efforts in procreative AI , knowledge minelaying , and omnichannel conversational AI within the region .
Before founding DXwand , CEOAhmed Mahmoudwas use at Microsoft , where he led their data and artificial tidings enterprise sales in the Gulf region and the Middle East . His professional journeying began with an engineering background signal and work on software and AI engineering science within growing team . transition to the industriousness ’s business side , Mahmoud cultivate at Vodafone and then Microsoft ; in these roles , he engaged with clients to research ways AI could enhance productivity and overall user experience .
At Microsoft , he key out something obvious : Conversational AI and broad AI technologies were not fully matured and developed in the Middle East , as solutions from Silicon Valley did n’t cater to Arabic or other languages in the region . “ At that time , I tried to validate if we could make AI models for spoken dialects in the realm , but we run into some challenges . The realisation of a business opportunity prompted me to relinquish from Microsoft and found DXwand to address this gap . ”
After go through an accelerator in 2018 , Mahmoud launched DXwand to provide small businesses with a customer - centric chatbot tailored for sales over societal media platforms . The house ab initio secure seeded player funding of $ 150,000 from angels in Qatar and Egypt . However , the squad soon realized it necessitate to change over business simulation to chance merchandise - market scene and become profitable .
“ Our basal focusing was building an AI solution that work for Arabic dialects , which are very complex and advanced — even Egypt had more than seven or eight spoken dialects . And that helped us to do work well in this region , for the areas we support , ” the Microsoft alum state in the consultation . “ Yet , this value by itself mother more edification wherever we go to more clients because those business take not just to have something to empathize the oral communication , but they also desire something easier to onboard , and at that sentence , the natural language understanding solutions want a fortune of efforts in labeling the data and working on labeling such data is a huge set of fourth dimension and sweat that required businesses for us to do . ”
Generative AI is n’t a home run in the enterprise
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In 2021 , the Egypt - tolerate AI startup embarked on a pivot , targeting corporates and enterprises or else of lowly businesses as it directed its efforts toward knowledge mining and recovery augmented generation ( RAG ) domains . Back then , the buzz around big words mannequin had n’t yet taken off as they have now — and DXwand aimed to create a noesis graphical record that eliminated the need for customers to label data manually . This approach allows it to pre - label data , alleviate quick onboarding of more customer and supporting advanced use cases , finally aiding enterprises in adoption .
Consider a scenario where an endeavour deals with a vast repository of policy and datum , enough to fill a room with PDFs . The challenge uprise when they aim to automate customer help or gross revenue over their digital channels — a task that typically involve manually labeling all that data point . Realistically , reach this is no well-situated feat ; many might happen it impractical . This is where noesis excavation comes into romp . With this capacity , such enterprises can input their in the altogether data — and DXwand ’s system assume care of the labeling by creating a pre - mark set and streamlining their physical process to implement colloquial experience for their client or staff without the scrupulous task of manual information labeling .
In a nutshell , DXwand ’s AI - power software automates schoolbook and representative conversations between businesses , their customers , employees , and citizen - facing government services . This functionality sweep various platforms , including call centers , Facebook Messenger , WhatsApp , SMS , and websites . The platform claims to dig slang in both Arabic and English , extracting worthful insights from conversations and presenting them on dashboards for businesses to make informed decisions . According to the inauguration , it ply analytical tools and dashboards that offer brainwave into these conversation and transform them into leads and sales , enhancing customer retention and learning .
To scale this fashion model in the Middle East and Gulf regions , the inauguration take in additional investments between 2021 and 2022 : $ 1.3 million in seed extension from SOSV and other investor and $ 1 million pre - Series A from the Dubai Future District Fund . This point coincided with the surge in interest and due date of large speech theoretical account . As these engineering science became more full-bodied , DXwand AI seized the opportunity to exposit its offerings and cater to the jump demand for such solution among its clients .
“ We used those funds to endorse and speed our investment in knowledge mining , getting and leverage specific solution for specifically Arabic and other dialects . But also build on top of that knowledge mining to make it run for any language and expand the company into other areas like in Africa and Europe , ” Mahmoud , who runs the inauguration alongside co - founderMahmoud Gomaa , notice . “ Today , we have some clients from Africa . So we started to leverage that because it ’s language agnostical , help guest to onboard easily and puzzle out their problems . ”
Building a viable pricing modelling for generative AI lineament could be challenging
The chief executive director highlighted that the chatbot platform caters to over 40 clients across the MENA area , spanning divers sector such as healthcare , e - commerce , fintech , telecom , government , and legal . Since its inception , the AI startup has facilitated over 5 million conversations and currently stands as a profitable entity , Mahmoud sum . count on usage mass , clients are charge yearly subscription between $ 50,000 and $ 400,000 . Furthermore , Mahmoud give away that the company recorded over $ 5 million in one-year fall back revenue in 2023 , representing a 2x class - over - twelvemonth growth and underscoring the platform ’s increase meaning and espousal in a market where AI platforms are few and far between .
arm with this new investment , DXwand ’s subsequent plans include expand across Africa and Saudi Arabia , Mahmoud shared on the call , adding that both regions hold especial grandness in the startup ’s strategy . He also note that accelerating research campaign , specifically in knowledge minelaying and retrieval augmented coevals , and imprint alliances with technology providers like telecommunication operator to establish meaningful partnerships within the communities it serve stay on top of mind for the inauguration , too .
