Mark Hughes and Patrick Finlay. Image: Solidroad
CEO and co-founder Mark Hughes describes the start-up as a ‘flight-simulator for customer-facing teams’.
Solidroad, a Dublin-based AI start-up founded by former Intercom employees, has raised $1.2m to scale its enterprise training platform.
The round was backed by big names in Irish tech, including Wayflyer co-founder Jack Pierce, Voxpro co-founder Dan Kiely, Intercom co-founder Ciaran Lee, Anne Heraty of CPL, and former PayPal executive Louise Phelan.
Founded by CEO Mark Hughes and CTO Patrick Finlay last year, Solidroad employs AI technology to create immersive training experiences for customer-facing teams in companies. Some of its clients include Ryanair, Three Mobile and ActiveCampaign.
Hughes, who met Finaly while working at Intercom, describes Solidroad as a “flight-simulator for customer-facing teams”. The idea is to scale personalised assessment and training for large enterprises using AI.
“Our software allows CX [customer experience] agents to practise realistic conversations with AI prospects and customers, receiving personalised performance feedback from our AI coach,” he said. “This approach significantly enhances skills, reduces ramp times and increases training effectiveness.”
Hughes previously founded and sold Gradguide, a career guidance and graduate recruitment platform he dreamed up when he himself was freshly graduated and considering his career path. Gradguide went on to be acquired by Native.
Meanwhile, Finlay previously co-founded Y Combinator-backed no-code start-up Monaru.
Now, Solidroad’s platform is targeting companies with high volumes of customer engagements and ongoing staff training needs with its software that can simulate real customer interactions and deliver personalised training at scale.
The latest funding will help Solidroad expand its team and invest in product development.
“We’re excited to use this investment to bring our vision to more businesses, helping them improve their training processes and ultimately their customer experience outcomes,” said Finlay. “This funding is a testament to the hard work of our team and the trust our investors have in our potential.”
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