Interactions Gains $12M for Phone-Based Customer Service Tech

Franklin, MA-based Interactions, a speech and customer service technology company, said yesterday it has raised $12 million in new financing led by Sigma Partners. North Hill Ventures, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, and Updata Partners also participated in the round.

The company says it will use the new money to support its growing customer base, expand its market presence, and invest in new technology. Its goal: to provide something like a “virtual customer service agent” that can engage people in natural conversation.

To that end, Interactions develops automated voice and interactive systems for phone-based customer service. It tries to enhance existing speech recognition and phone-tree technologies by putting some human assistance into the loop, among other things.

The company started in 2004 and has a technology center in Indiana. It is led by CEO Mike Iacobucci.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.