Former Y-combinator startup Telli helps businesses ease the bottlenecks that arise when a large number of customers try to book. The AI voice agent kicks in and handles basic operations while handing over more complex processes to human operators. The Berlin-based startup has raised $3.6 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Berlin Cherry Venture and Y Combinator.
Telli said AI voice agents can perform many tasks, including automated callbacks and closing transactions.
Founded by Seb Hapte-Selassie, Philipp Baumanns, and Finn Zur Mühlen, the startup focuses on integrating agents into the operation of the company.
It now has reached revenue growth of over 50% over a month, claiming it has processed nearly 1 million calls (and only six-person teams) from its Berlin office. The clients are spread across Germany, the UK, Latin America and the US, with plans for further expansion.
CEO Zur Mühlen told TechCrunch that the founder got the idea after working for Unicorn Empar, Germany, one of Germany’s biggest startup successes.
He said that Teri’s AI agents “actually achieve results such as booking reservations, prequalified leads, product suggestions and more.” The voice is created by hired voice actors, and the voices are cloned using Eleven Love or Cartesian AI’s voice cloning platform, he said.
The use of the underlying AI model Telli depends on Openai, Claude, etc. “We’re switching, and our goal is to always provide our customers with the best solutions that are there right now,” he said.