Zambian AI communications startup, Caantin, desires to scale back the price of making cellphone requires companies by utilizing AI voice brokers that may have these conversations at scale.
Communication is the lifeblood of many enterprises. From fintechs nudging customers to finish signups or pay again loans to FMCG manufacturers chasing every day orders from mom-and-pop retailers, cellphone calls are a important a part of every day operations. Historically, that job has fallen to massive or outsourced name facilities, or in-house help groups that include overhead prices, hiring complications, and pure limits—there’s solely so many calls a human could make in a day.
Caantin, a brand new AI communications startup, thinks it has a greater approach: AI voice brokers that may have these conversations at scale.
Launched in 2021—Caantin’s first iteration was Topup Mama, a procurement and administration software program for eating places—and self-described as an AI communications firm, the Zambian startup says it desires to scale back the price of making cellphone requires companies.
“Companies battle to scale for a variety of causes, and once you peel into it, you find yourself with a communications subject—the price of speaking,” mentioned Njavwa Mutambo, CEO and Co-founder of Caantin. “We assist companies talk with clients in a approach that’s clever, contextual, and cost-effective.”
TechCabal had a go at utilizing Caantin’s extremely human-sounding AI voice bots by appearing as a mom-and-pop store making an attempt to put orders. Save the few gaps in communication, the dialog felt actually pure. The decision included the intonations, pauses, and inadvertent interruptions of an actual life dialog. The AI chatbot means that you can have conversations accented in main African languages—Igbo, Hausa, Swahili, and Yoruba.
Mutambo claims the startup has helped the companies it serves improve their effectivity. For instance, Mutambo says Caantin helped Nigerian fintech Cowrywise obtain 100,000 calls with one worker, a feat that might usually be achieved with 30 staff in a 3-month interval.
Voice is the entry level
Whereas AI use circumstances on the continent are nonetheless nascent—largely as a result of excessive price of constructing and operating fashions—Mutambo believes voice AI would be the most dominant use case of AI in Africa. With low smartphone penetration, inconsistent web entry, and excessive illiteracy charges in lots of areas, Mutambo sees voice—not textual content or chat—as essentially the most sensible interface for AI adoption at scale.
“Voice is how AI can be distributed in Africa,” Mutambo mentioned.
However past simply constructing voice bots, he argues the secret’s growing context-specific use circumstances that align with how enterprises function on the continent. For Caantin, meaning designing voice brokers that may drive collections, full gross sales flows, and scale back the price of buyer help—at scale.
For instance, Caantin’s voice bot can immediate cost throughout calls utilizing webhooks for integration with cost suppliers like Paystack and Flutterwave.
Caantin can also be trying so as to add a function that might analyse tons of cellphone conversations and deduce insights that can be utilized for enterprise selections.
How Caantin makes cash
Caantin generates income by charging per second for cellphone calls, working very like a telecom supplier. In South Africa, it fees 4 rands (2 cents) per second; in Nigeria, about ₦117 (7 cents) per minute—roughly 9 instances the speed of an area telco.
Mutambo defends the pricing by pointing to the broader prices companies sometimes incur to run massive buyer help operations.
“Whenever you’re doing the mathematics, you need to consider employees salaries, energy, web—all of the overhead it takes to run a name middle,” he mentioned. “Most chief business officers we work with see AI as a cost-cutting instrument, not a value middle.”
In Caantin’s pitch, the upper per-minute value is offset by the size, consistency, and 24/7 availability that AI voice brokers provide—with out the hidden prices of managing human groups. The corporate claims it’s at present worthwhile.
Competitors and differentiation
Caantin’s principal rivals are conventional name facilities—Enterprise Course of Outsourcing (BPO) firms—and world gamers like YC-backed Bland AI. Not like its world rivals, Caantin is constructed with an African context. The chatbot understands native dialects, accents, and speech patterns extra successfully than generic language fashions.
Caantin’s plan to supply an analytics function places it in direct competitors with ToumAI, a Moroccan AI startup that works with companies, together with telecom suppliers, banks, and name facilities, to collect and analyze voice information.
Fundraising and future plans
The startup raised an undisclosed spherical from Ventures Platform earlier this yr. Whereas Caantin’s purpose is to make startup buyer help extra environment friendly, we requested if that spells the top for BPOs.
“BPOs might want to adapt or battle to outlive,” mentioned Mutambo. Caantin’s AI isn’t good but—however when it’s, name facilities received’t simply be in hassle. They’ll be lunch.
