Vida Launches Platform and API for Telecom Companies to Offer AI Voice Agents

When it comes to customer support by telephony, live agents remain the medium of choice for most customers, particularly if they have complex problems. AI-driven voice agents, however, have a time and a place, particularly for lower-level customer queries. They can save companies time and money by offloading a significant number of customer queries from live agents. They can also begin transactions with customers and then “hand over” to live agents, when needed. For telecom companies, it’s certainly a compelling idea to be able to offer customers built-in AI voice agent services.

Vida, a provider of carrier-grade AI voice agents for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), recently announced the launch of its platform and API built specifically for telecom service providers. The company is also announcing that it has secured a $3 million seed round (led by Stillmark) to accelerate the deployment of its AI voice solutions.

By integrating with telecom carriers that serve large numbers of SMBs, Vida aims to make it easier for companies to implement AI voice agents to boost operational efficiency, drive productivity and enhance customer experience. Businesses can harness and customize Vida's voice agents to automate and scale key business functions including customer service calls and texts, lead qualification, scheduling, sales, and more. According to the Connected Commerce Council, 81% of SMBs say AI will be critical to their businesses' success over the next two years.

Vida operates its own proprietary voice stack that integrates seamlessly with existing telecom networks and business phone systems over SIP for smooth deployment. The Vida conversation experience is built on advanced AI technology, powered by a combination of large language models (LLMs) from OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic and Mistral. The voice agents can be customized by companies to match their brand.

"We are excited to introduce Vida AI voice agents enabling telecom network providers to give their SMB customers enterprise-level AI technology,” said Lyle Pratt, CEO of Vida. “Vida's agents can help businesses of any size improve service quality and efficiency at the same time. Our AI agents not only integrate seamlessly with existing telecom solutions but require minimal expertise to set up, allowing SMBs easy access to technology that would have otherwise seemed beyond their reach."