Montréal startup Koïos Intelligence, which provides an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant for insurance professionals, has raised $6.5 million in a combination of equity, debt, and “other call options.”
Investors in this round included Propulia Capital, Canada Economic Development, Export Development Canada, Caisse Desjardins des Technologies, and other private investors that were not named. The lead investor was not disclosed. Koïos did not explain the other call options in the funding round.
“The nature of the activities of insurance agents and brokers will evolve towards more personalized advice.”
According to Koïos, this funding would help it expand into new markets as it continues to develop its AI virtual assistant.
A recent survey conducted by the company found that insurance consumers have increasingly “sophisticated expectations.”
Koïos reported that 75 percent of survey respondents expect a response from an agent in less than five minutes, and that 65 percent of consumers prefer online platforms when shopping for insurance.
Founded in 2017, Koïos’ solution is Olivo, which it touts as having a 30 percent shorter waiting time than call centres.
Olivo uses multimodal AI, a branch of AI in which multiple types of information transmission, such as text, voice, and images, are used to train algorithms to better understand consumer interactions.
Koïos founder and CEO Mohamed Hanini said that with the emergence of AI-powered virtual assistants, “the nature of the activities of insurance agents and brokers will evolve towards more personalized advice, along with a drastic reduction in data entry.”
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Personalization has been called the future of insurance marketing, using existing personal data and emerging technologies to reach prospective clients with targeted messaging and offers.
AI has helped to accelerate the move to personalized marketing, as it automates the processes involved in generating personalized campaigns.
Koïos is only one such company that is using AI for personalized marketing as the market for the technology continues to grow. Market Research Future reports that the industry for AI applications in marketing will surpass $48.8 billion USD in value by 2030.
In Canada, Koïos is joined by startups like Birdseye, which uses AI to automatically generate step-by-step marketing plans; as well as Hippoc, which combines AI with neuroscience to help digital marketers estimate the success of their campaigns before they go live.
Featured image courtesy Koïos Intelligence.