Dr. Alan Bekker, a deep learning scientist previously behind Snap's My AI chatbot, has unveiled his latest venture, eSelf AI. This innovative platform focuses on real-time, video-based conversational AI agents and has already garnered attention, including a feature in TechCrunch. With $4.5 million in seed funding, eSelf is poised to transform industries like education, sales, financial services, real estate, and health and wellness.
The Israeli startup offers a "no-code" creation studio, enabling clients to design their own AI agents. These agents can interact with common applications like Calendly and Salesforce to schedule appointments, access content, and reference data, functioning similarly to human assistants. eSelf claims its agents have a response time of under 1.7 seconds, positioning them as more lifelike compared to competitors.
Operating in stealth mode, eSelf has already facilitated millions of real-time conversations, with clients including Christie's real estate and the Brazilian bank AGI. The seed funding round was led by Portugal's Explorer Investments, with participation from Ridge Ventures, M-Fund, and strategic angel investors such as Eyal Manor, former VP of engineering at YouTube and chief product and engineering officer at Twilio.
Dr. Bekker's journey to eSelf is notable. Originally studying to become a rabbi, he shifted his focus to engineering, physics, and computer science after becoming disillusioned with his initial path. A serendipitous enrollment in a machine learning course ignited his passion for understanding human language and cognition through mathematics. This led to a PhD and a specialization in voice recognition, neural networks, and deep learning.
His entrepreneurial career began with Voca, a startup developing AI voice assistants for call centers, attracting clients like American Express and AT&T. Snap acquired Voca in 2020 for $100 million, where Bekker then led the Conversational AI team responsible for developing the My AI chatbot. After departing Snap, he envisioned a new generation of AI agents utilizing video and voice to create more human-like interactions, culminating in the founding of eSelf with co-founder Eylon Shoshan, a specialist in natural language processing and alumnus of Israel's 8200 unit.
eSelf distinguishes itself by fine-tuning existing large language models, such as Meta's Llama, rather than building its own from scratch. This approach allows for faster response times and seamless integration with clients' existing chatbot frameworks. The company enters a competitive landscape of AI-driven conversational agents, aiming to deliver more interactive and realistic AI assistants across various industries.
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Media Contact
eSelf AI
Address: Tel Aviv, Israel
Phone: +972 52-515-9256
Website: https://www.eself.ai/
