Nov 28, 2024

We've always been very obsessed with the notion of using AI to support humans in the way that they speak, communicate, generate information from their communications, and simplify all of that so that they can focus on doing the more creative tasks. The way businesses communicate has drastically changed over the last decade. From the rapid expansion of digital communication tools to the rise of remote work, organizations today are engaging with customers, partners, and internal teams more frequently and across a variety of channels. While this explosion of conversations offers tremendous potential for growth, it also presents a significant challenge: how to capture and make sense of the massive amounts of unstructured data generated during these interactions. For years, companies have struggled to harness the wealth of insights hidden in voice and text-based exchanges. Transcriptions have been helpful, but they only skim the surface. Real insights lie in the context—understanding what was said, why it was said, and how it can be acted upon. This is where Symbl.ai steps in. Founded in 2018 by Surbhi Rathore and Toshish Jawale , Symbl.ai has been steadily carving out its place in the conversational AI market. With its headquarters in Seattle and a developer-first philosophy, the company aims to do more than just capture words. It provides tools that deeply analyze conversations, enabling businesses to understand intent, emotion, and context in real-time. The story of Symbl.ai began when Rathore and Jawale, both experienced technologists with a passion for AI, noticed a glaring gap in how businesses approached communication. Despite the rapid adoption of tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, the conversations flowing through these platforms often vanished into a void, offering no lasting insights. Rathore and Jawale envisioned a solution where conversations could become tangible, measurable, and actionable data. “We did our platform in 2020, so like technically platforms will in life for the four years, but yeah, we’ve been putting our brains together to how to really create value for customers using AI and specifically as a developer platform.” says Surbhi Rathore, CEO and Co-Founder of Symbl.ai. A Platform Built for Deep Understanding What makes Symbl.ai stand out is its ability to go beyond the conventional limits of transcription. While many AI-powered tools merely convert speech to text, Symbl.ai’s platform is designed to understand, contextualize, and analyze every nuance of a conversation. It doesn’t just listen; it interprets. The technology can process both live and recorded conversations, automatically identifying key moments, actions, and sentiments. Symbl.ai doesn’t rely on a static set of keywords or phrases. Instead, it analyzes conversations in context, understanding the intent behind every word. It captures emotions, identifies important topics, and even detects potential pain points in customer interactions. Whether it’s a sales conversation, customer support call, or an internal meeting, Symbl.ai extracts meaningful insights by analyzing the flow of conversation and the context in which it occurs. For businesses, this means they no longer need to comb through hours of recorded calls or meeting notes to extract value. Symbl.ai’s system can automatically summarize conversations, highlight action items, and provide sentiment analysis, all in real-time or as post-call insights. This deep understanding of conversations allows businesses to make better decisions faster and with more precision. Rathore explains: “One of the key pillars of us building the tech stack is how can we make it configurable, how can we make this programmable, how do we make sure that we can abstract away the complexities of the engineering and the ML work that is going to be repetitive for every business.” Real-World Applications Across Industries Symbl.ai’s platform is versatile, enabling its application across a wide range of industries, from customer support to sales and beyond. Take, for example, customer service teams. Traditionally, support representatives have relied on manual note-taking and follow-up systems to track customer issues and resolutions. This process is time-consuming and prone to human error. With Symbl.ai, customer service teams can automatically extract key insights from conversations, such as identifying customer pain points, detecting sentiment shifts, and uncovering potential upsell opportunities. This allows them to act on insights in real time, leading to more efficient and personalized customer interactions. In sales, Symbl.ai is transforming how teams approach lead generation and conversion. By analyzing conversations with prospects, sales teams can identify patterns and trends in what customers are saying, allowing them to refine their sales pitches and strategies. Symbl.ai’s ability to detect the tone and sentiment in sales calls helps teams understand not only what was said but how it was received, empowering them to adapt their approach accordingly. For example, if a customer expresses frustration or disinterest, the system will flag this and suggest follow-up actions that could turn the conversation around. Beyond customer-facing teams, Symbl.ai also enhances internal collaboration. In meetings, employees can focus on the conversation rather than taking notes, knowing that Symbl.ai’s platform will capture key points, decisions, and action items. This level of automation and contextual awareness increases productivity and ensures that no important detail is missed. Surbhi Rathore explains their foundational philosophy: “We’ve always been very obsessed with the notion of using AI to support humans in the way that they speak, communicate, generate information from their communications, and simplify all of that so that they can focus on doing the more creative tasks. The AI can take away all the mundane activity and generate information from them as needed.” Scaling Conversational Intelligence What truly sets Symbl.ai apart is its scalability. The platform is designed to handle a vast volume of conversations, making it ideal for enterprises with large-scale operations. Its APIs can be easily integrated into existing tools and systems, allowing businesses to deploy conversational intelligence across multiple channels, from customer support to internal communications. Whether a company is looking to analyze a handful of calls or process millions of interactions, Symbl.ai’s infrastructure can scale to meet these needs without compromising on performance. “The kind of readiness that exists today and the hunger that businesses have to really deploy capital to see value because they believe now that AI can do things… which, you know, was always there but the belief wasn’t as widespread as it is now.” This scalability is particularly important in today’s remote and hybrid work environments, where organizations are increasingly dependent on digital communication tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. These platforms generate large volumes of unstructured data that are difficult to analyze manually. With Symbl.ai, businesses can process this data in real time, extracting insights that would otherwise be buried. The platform works seamlessly with these tools, providing organizations with a comprehensive view of their communications across different channels and mediums. The Impact of Symbl.ai The real-world benefits of Symbl.ai’s platform are significant. Businesses that adopt conversational intelligence see improvements in operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and decision-making. By automating the extraction of actionable insights from conversations, companies save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on manual analysis. Sales teams become more effective, customer support is more responsive, and internal collaboration is enhanced. Reflecting on their recent efforts, Rathore shares: “We’ve been heads down and helping people really adopt both the conservative deterministic AI but also generative AI together in a hybrid way and really extract business value out of it.” Moreover, the ability to analyze conversations in real time allows businesses to take immediate action when needed. For example, if a customer expresses dissatisfaction during a service call, the system can alert a manager to intervene right away. This level of responsiveness drives better outcomes and strengthens relationships with customers. Looking Ahead The startup’s rapid rise hasn’t gone unnoticed. Symbl.ai secured significant venture backing, most recently a $17 million Series A funding round led by GreatPoint Ventures. This investment reflects not only confidence in Symbl.ai’s technology but also the growing market demand for conversational intelligence. Analysts predict that the conversational AI market will surpass $32 billion by 2030, and Symbl.ai is positioning itself as a leader in this space. What truly sets Symbl.ai apart is its belief that conversations are not just data—they are a core driver of business strategy. Rathore’s vision, shaped by her time working with enterprise software and Jawale’s expertise in machine learning, focuses on solving real-world problems. Their mission is not to chase trends but to build enduring value through technology that adapts to human needs. Anshika Mathews Anshika is an Associate Research Analyst working for the AIM Leaders Council. She holds a keen interest in technology and related policy-making and its impact on society. She can be reached at anshika.mathews@aimresearch.co Subscribe to our Latest Insights Work Email Subscribe By clicking the “Continue” button, you are agreeing to the AIM Media Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Recognitions & Lists