Canada-based Proto has raised a $5.6M Series A round led by Mucker Capital for the global expansion of its AI Customer Experience (AICX) solutions. The round also had participation from current shareholder Yolo Investments.

The company helps contact center operators from the Philippines to Zambia – such as the National Bank of Rwanda, Bank of Ghana, and the Medical City Clinic – to automate local language customer experiences. Local languages such as Cebuano, Kinyarwanda, and Twi can be notoriously difficult for chatbots to understand, due to the lack of machine learning training resources. 

Proto solves this problem with chatbots powered by its proprietary natural language processing (NLP) technology and nationwide, data-heavy deployments with regulators, such as central banks, across 2000+ private sector institutions. Proto’s NLP engine – called HermesAI™ – uniquely understands both local and mixed languages, such as Taglish (hybrid of Tagalog and English).

Proto CEO Curtis Matlock said: “In the midst of crises that have been especially hard on people in the emerging world – we believe it’s more important than ever for citizen engagement and customer experience to prioritize inclusion as a guiding principle. Proto’s conversational AI deployments for local languages are at the forefront of overcoming long wait times, unresolved cases, and limited language and channel support in over a dozen emerging markets.”

Mucker Capital Investor Joe Tsai said: “The growth of mobile and internet adoption in the emerging world is stunning, and this continued trend is inevitable. However, due to poor support for their native languages, billions of people are still cut out from critical digital services. Proto’s multilingual, industry-relevant machine learning models and conversational chatbots can unlock greater inclusivity at a massive scale while generating significant ROI for the institutions that adopt it. We are thrilled to support Proto’s mission and partner with Curtis, Albert, and the entire team.”