Zaion, the French specialist in customer relationship solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI), has just taken a new step in its development. The start-up announced on Tuesday April 19, 2022 to be the winner of the i-Nov innovation competition, operated by Ademe and Bpifrance and financed by the State via the Future Investments Program. i-Nov is a support system aimed at selecting projects that have strong potential for the French economy and could claim global reach.
The i-Nov Innovation Competition, a new course for Zaion
Zaion was created in September 2017. It is an independent platform with high performance technologies, 100% proprietary and made in France, but also data hosted in France. It contributes to strengthening European sovereignty, particularly in the face of the GAFA.
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The company supports companies in improving the customer experience through AI. To do this, its innovative solutions rely on the voice to develop a more effective and interactive customer relationship. The start-up’s experts have developed a technology for callbots intelligent, automating the processing of simple and repetitive conversations. The answers given are personalized thanks to an AI. For a company, this reduces its operational costs, accelerates the digitalization of the customer journey and offers a personalized and engaging experience.
The start-up is not only recognized for its solutions that transform everyday life, but also for its R&D division. Indeed, the Zaion Lab performs advanced work in speech recognition, natural language understanding and emotion detection to advance the art of conversational AI.
Four years after its launch, Zaion has come a long way. In May 2021, the start-up completed its first funding round with Fortino Capital, Truffle Capital, Pro BTP Innovation and Bpifrance. This fundraising of 9 million euros is the largest on this market in France. With the i-Nov Innovation Competition, the company is taking a new step and confirming its leading position in its field. For Franz Fodéré, founder and President of Zaion: “It’s a chance to be recognized and supported by the French State. This validates our R&D investment strategy, in order to establish our industrial and technological sovereignty”.
Accelerate the development of its technologies
The young shoot stood out thanks to its “Smart Coaching” project. It is a personal coaching platform capable of supporting and motivating contact center agents to acquire new skills to respond in real time thanks to AI. From a fluid interface, teleconsultants can learn about their strengths and areas for improvement.
Alya Yacoubi, Director of the Zaion Lab. Photography: Zaion.
On the platform, they also have access to a virtual coach who orchestrates the content of the coaching. This can be a scenario using simulated dialogues thanks to the AI or even instant feedback on progress. ” We participate in building the working world of tomorrow as we imagine it: hybrid, flexible and at the service of people says Alya Yacoubi, Director of the Zaion Lab about the Smart Coaching project.
For winners like Zaion, the i-Nov innovation competition is an opportunity to accelerate the development of their technologies. Indeed, it makes it possible to co-finance research and innovation projects, the total costs of which are between 600,000 euros and 5 million euros. Out of 278 applications, 73 projects were selected as winners and €45.8 million in aid was granted.