Banter Lands $20M in Funds
San Francisco-based, natural language automation technology provider Banter has secured a $20 million round of funding led by Mayfield of Menlo Park, Calif., making this the second round of funding the venture capital firm secured for Banter.
“Mayfield pioneered the concept of being the entrepreneurs’ partner,” said Tom Aden, Banter president and CEO. “Funding from Mayfield is much more than an investment, it is a working relationship that involves their passion for Banter’s technology and their commitment to our success.” Mayfield has also funded Broadvision, Cierra Photonics, Redback Networks, 3Com, 3ParData, and Tibco, among others.
David Ladd, general partner at Mayfield, expressed confidence in Banter’s solutions that include Self-Help and Reply. “Web-based self-service using Banter technology will transform the customer service experience in much the same way that automated teller machines did a number of years ago.”
Banter’s solutions are powered by its Relationship Modeling Engine (RME), a self-learning system that combines powerful natural language processing with sophisticated statistical and semantic analysis to interpret, process and adapt to communications in real time. Banter’s RME allows its applications, such as Self-Help and Reply, to deliver consistent and accurate answers to customer inquiries that actually increase in accuracy over time, through unique, real-time learning.
“Banter simply has the best natural language technology in the marketplace,” said Ladd, “and I’ve been impressed with their strong partnerships with industry leaders like Siebel and Peregrine, their steady stream of customer acquisitions like Roxio, Wells Fargo Bank, VeriSign and Nintendo, and their strong management team.”