Chatbots have come a long way. For years, they were limited to responding with predetermined responses that followed simple logical structures. However, customers may have complex problems, and a tree diagram of possible responses cannot have enough branches to account for all the edge cases that arise. Thankfully, with the advent of large-scale language models, chatbots have finally become useful. Armed with mountains of data, the startup is now leveraging generative AI to create custom chatbots for all kinds of businesses and use cases, especially when you want to see what people are buying. is being created.
Thailand's HD builds chatbots targeted at one such industry: healthcare. The company started as a marketplace for third-party healthcare and surgical services and believes it is a strong case for developing conversational AI for the healthcare customer's journey.
“The products we sell are not the typical products you would buy on Amazon. These are hospital services, so people shop the same way they would shop offline,” said co-founder Sheji Ho. told TechCrunch.
Even though HD's Marketplace HD Mall has a description of each product, Ho says people still prefer to ask questions first. “90% of his chat messages are asking about product information. Chat Commerce Process [is similar to] It’s an offline experience,” he explained.
To advance its AI ambitions, HD recently raised a 5.6 million Series A round led by SBI Ven Capital, a subsidiary of Japanese financial giant SBI Group, through a joint fund with South Korea's Kyoto Securities and NTU Singapore's NTUitive. raised dollars. M Venture Partners, FEBE Ventures, Partec Partners, Ratio Ventures, Orvel Ventures and TA Ventures also participated in the round.
AI for Southeast Asia
Ho said HD is working to build the “Sierra AI of Southeast Asia's healthcare industry.”
Over five years, Ho and his team found that the faster HD representatives responded to inquiries, the higher the conversion rate. “So there is a very good case for using AI to automate that process,” he said. The company expects conversational AI to not only help reduce costs, but also free up staff to focus on higher-value tasks, such as answering more complex customer questions.
But Ho and his team seem to have a realistic outlook on what they can achieve. Unable to match U.S. companies, which have “almost unlimited access” to powerful GPUs, talent and venture capital, the company is focusing on building vertical AI using local data as an outer moat.
“Emerging markets need to compete using the data they have – unique data that no one else has – and leverage AI,” Ho said. “We see similar things happening elsewhere. Some people call this vertical AI, where you take a vertical domain (specific data specific to a particular business or industry). Build a model on top of it and enhance it to the point where you can build practical AI applications and start monetizing it.”
So HD plans to train the chatbot using a sea of anonymized transaction, chat, FAQ, and product catalog data it has accumulated over the years. Currently, his 30 to 40 percent of the company's transactions are done through chat commerce with customer service representatives.
HD plans to use the new funding to deploy the chatbot for its own market within three months and make the technology available to third parties by the end of this year. Potential customers are hospitals and clinics that require 24/7 customer support. The startup is already working with around 2,000 healthcare providers in Asia, which will allow it to fine-tune the basic language model in the healthcare domain. Ultimately, the chatbot service will give the company a new SaaS revenue stream in addition to marketplace fees.
Post-pandemic fundraising
Like many other startups, HD sought to reduce costs and sustain growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the company “didn't necessarily need to raise” as the company was on its way to profitability after the pandemic ended with double year-over-year growth, Ho also said there was an opportunity to move more quickly as other companies slowed down. Thought.
“We hear voices saying, 'We should raise money when we don't need to.' If we raise prices now, everything else will be cheaper. For example, because everyone stopped advertising in the recession, customers Acquisition costs have become cheaper. Acquisition of human resources has also become cheaper. [costs less] Unfortunately, companies are cutting back on staff. ”
Globally, startup company valuations have been on a downward trend in recent years. HD wasn't immune to the wave, but Ho says he recognized the benefits of accepting a more moderate rating early on.
“I think it makes no sense for companies to worry about valuations this early. Over the past few years, and especially in 2021, we have seen companies start competing at very high valuations. '' he said, pointing to India's health tech unicorn Priston as an example. furious growth.
“Because they were raised at very high valuations, they are forced to grow very aggressively, which leads to founders and companies cutting corners. When you're dealing with people's lives in healthcare, you can't cut corners. We cannot do that,” Ho said.