Ruben Harris and Timur Meyster, founders of upskilling platform Career Karma, today announced the launch of a company called OutRival. OutRival provides a service that allows businesses to build and host their own customer service agents to handle customer interactions.
AI agent companies are all the rage right now, and AI is one of the few areas where venture capital is flooding in. As of September, the VC industry poured at least $64.1 billion into the AI sector, with one-third of all VC funding going to AI startups this year, according to PitchBook data reported by the Wall Street Journal. It is said that
Startups building AI agents alone have raised more than $8 billion this year, according to PitchBook data reported by The Verge.
Although OutRival is entering a crowded field, Harris feels now is the perfect time to take aim at the industry. Harris and Meister said they saw firsthand the limitations of existing systems such as automated calls, as well as how important personalized interactions are.
“Today, thanks to AI, not only are companies in every industry making technology part of their core operations, but AI is also fundamentally changing the way we do business and the way people work,” Harris told TechCrunch told. “We knew there needed to be a way to use AI to extend personalized experiences while making technology accessible to those closest to the customer journey.”
His company supports, rather than replaces, existing consumer teams and sets them apart from competitors by encouraging them to easily build AI agents that can work with existing tools and systems to help them converse with customers. We aim to differentiate ourselves from The company has been operating in beta mode for the past two years and is already working with college admissions teams to simplify workflows. There are also plans to expand into other industries.
Harris said Career Karma will continue to exist as a separate company and is now owned by OutRival. (On October 16th, Workday and LeBron James' SpringHill Company will release a Netflix documentary about hiring overlooked talent.) Harris told TechCrunch that he took everything he learned from building Career Karma and applied it to launching OutRival.
“Career Karma taught me the power of personalized, human-centered interactions and how important it is to extend those experiences without losing the human touch,” he said. “OutRival extends what we built for Career Karma and makes it available to companies across industries.”
Harris said Career Karma will now use OutRival's technology to power its own operations and build AI-driven support to aid its job training platform.
Investors are clearly on board. OutRival is leveraging the remaining funding from Career Karma's $40 million Series B round raised in 2022, and his investors, including Jack Altman and Initialized Capital, are wondering what he and Meyster will do next. He says he is looking forward to it.
“We are excited to partner with more companies and demonstrate how OutRival can be transformative in delivering great customer experiences,” said Harris.
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