Equal AI secured $30 million to filter phone calls for Indians who receive 20 spam calls weekly.

      Equal AI has secured $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Prosus Ventures, with participation from Tomales Bay Capital, Think Investments, Valiant Fund, and individual investors such as PhonePe founder Sameer Nigam and Meta's India and Southeast Asia VP Sandhya Devanathan. The startup, which provides an AI assistant for handling phone calls, has now raised over $42 million in total.

      The challenge it addresses is significant, as Indian consumers often receive a constant influx of calls from various sources like delivery drivers, insurance agents, financial service providers, scammers, and recruiters. Keshav Reddy, the founder, explained to TechCrunch that a person might receive up to 20 calls in a week when seeking car insurance, which can be overwhelming.

      Equal AI's Android app tackles this issue by responding to unknown calls with an AI agent that inquires about the reason for the call. It provides users with a summary on their screen and quick response options such as “Leave the delivery near the door” or “Give it to the neighbor.” The AI then reads the chosen reply back to the caller, and users can also draft custom messages. Each call is recorded, with transcriptions and summaries available within the app.

      Since its launch last year, the app has attracted over one million monthly active users and more than 300,000 daily users. It supports more than 10 Indian languages, accommodating code-mixing, which is common in the region. Simply having English support won't suffice for the Indian market.

      The recent funding round includes a unique structure with three tranches, each linked to different valuations based on whether the startup meets predetermined goals. This method, while becoming more common, is still relatively rare. It allows a startup to claim a higher valuation, even if much of the equity is sold at a lower price. Equal AI has opted not to disclose its exact valuations.

      Founded in 2022 by Reddy, who hails from the family behind the Indian conglomerate GVK, known for its interests in infrastructure, energy, and healthcare, Equal AI initially functioned as a data-sharing service for financial sectors. It continues to provide KYC verification and financial data analysis as part of its offerings alongside the consumer app.

      The competition in this space is notable, with Google and Apple both offering call screening technologies. Truecaller, a well-known app in India with hundreds of millions of users, is developing its own AI assistant features. In the US, Cloaked, backed by a16z, introduced call screening last year. Prosus's Thiago Viana mentioned that Equal's understanding of local contexts gives it a competitive advantage.

      Future plans for Equal AI include screening calls from known contacts, making outbound calls for users to schedule appointments, developing an iOS version, and introducing a paid subscription option. Prosus has been investing in AI assistants tailored for local markets, such as Spain’s Luzia and Latin America’s Zapia. Both faced challenges due to Meta’s ban on third-party AI bots on WhatsApp, which motivated Equal AI to base its service on calls and its proprietary app instead of relying on a messaging platform. The takeaway from this experience is that dependency on a platform can jeopardize distribution efforts.