[Updated] SG startup AI Rudder bags $50m in Series B led by Tiger Global, Coatue

Editor’s note: This story, originally published on Mar. 8, 2022. was updated to include comments from Kun Wu.

Singapore-based voice artificial intelligence (AI) company AI Rudder has raised $50 million in a Series B round from US funds Tiger Global and Coatue.

Other new investors include Cathay Innovation, First Plus, and VenturesLab. They were joined by existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Huashan Capital, the company said in a statement.

The latest round brings AI Rudder’s total funding in the last 12 months to $60 million. It last raised $10 million in a Series A round in November 2021, and raised $3 million in total in two seed rounds in 2020.

Founded in July 2019, AI Rudder provides companies in financial services and e-commerce with AI-powered voice assistants that can recognize Southeast Asian accents and languages such as Mandarin Chinese and Tagalog. It claims that more than 200 companies around the world use its product. Clients include Kredivo’s FinAccel and Danafix.

“The ubiquity of technology and SaaS has allowed us to impact businesses across continents – in countries like Mexico, Kenya, Australia and beyond, said Kun Wu, the co-founder and managing director of AI Rudder in a statement.

The company claims to have increased its revenue by fourfold year-on-year in 2021, while its annual recurring revenue tripled in 2021 due to a growing client roster.

“We discovered that a number of our portfolio companies rely heavily on their technology to deliver game changing customer experiences,” said Nicolas du Cray, a partner at Cathay Innovation in a statement.

Fresh funds will be used to double its headcount, expand its business, and add more languages to its software.