Company co-founded by Kilkenny entrepreneur receives €1.5 million investment

Furthr VC have announced that it has led a €1.5 million investment round in Klearcom, a company co-founded by their Kilkenny CEO Liam Dunne.

Enterprise Ireland and HBAN’s Bloom Equity syndicate are also contributing to the round.

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The investment brings Furthr VC’s total investment in Klearcom to €1.1 million in the last 18 months as the company rapidly expands its global customer base.

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, Klearcom tests Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, used by businesses to manage incoming calls.

Operating across four continents, the company’s global client base spans all industries and includes large multinational pharma, enterprise software, credit card and emergency services companies.

As enterprises with constrained budgets look for a solution to manage and filter large volumes of calls effectively or risk of losing customers, the company is experiencing rapid growth.

To support growth in the Asian market, last year, Klearcom established a fully incorporated subsidiary company in India – in addition to its existing presence in Ireland and the US. 

The subsidiary will be of significant strategic importance as Klearcom expands its presence in the Asian market.

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The new investment will be used to advance product development from Klearcom’s Waterford base, with a greater use and wider application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) being a major focus for the company.

As a result, Klearcom expects to be the driving force behind a new generation of IVR testing, which will be more intelligent, predicting problems before they occur.

Klearcom is currently on-track to grow to a team of 50 by year-end 2024, while revenues are expected to more than double this year.

The investment will support the team growth and the company plans to add to its technical, marketing and sales teams.

Its technical team will be based in Waterford, while marketing and sales hires will be split between Waterford and the US.

Following this latest round of investment, Klearcom expects to embark on a larger fundraising round within the next 18 months.

Mooncoin native Liam Dunne, co-founder and CEO, Klearcom, explained that the 'IVR market is growing rapidly as enterprises
continue to grow their customer care and sales teams'.

"At the same time, they are having to deal with constrained budgets coupled with high competition for customers, putting greater pressure on them to ensure call centres are operational and reachable 100% of the time," he said.

"This has increased the demand for Klearcom’s services and we expect continued significant growth in our customer numbers
and revenues for the foreseeable future."

Dunne expressed his delight to once again receive funding from Furthr VC, as well Enterprise Ireland and Bloom
Equity who were also involved in their previous round.

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"Our partnership with Furthr VC has been pivotal to getting us to where we are now, as they have provided strategic support, valuable industryintroductions, as well as introductions to senior new team members who will help to steer Klearcom’s future," he said.

"The market opportunity for us is getting broader and wider and this investment will help us to develop more cutting-edge technologies and solutions, which are market-firsts and will set us apart from the competition."