Interface.ai, a customer automation platform for banks and other financial institutions, today announced that it has closed a $30 million funding round led by Avataar Venture Partners.

$20 million of the round was equity, while the remaining $10 million was in debt. It is Interface’s first external capital; startup had been fully initiated.

“More than 100 financial institutions across North America trust Interface, processing millions of interactions every day,” CEO and co-founder Srinivas Njay told TechCrunch. “We generate tens of millions in annual recurring revenue. »

Njay said the inspiration for Interface came from his father, who owned a credit union in India. Previously, Njay worked at Microsoft as a product manager on the Bing advertising team and at EA as a senior product manager on mobile games.

Njay partnered with Bruce Kim, founder of customer management and billing company Inovaware, in 2019 to launch Interface.

“Large national banks are investing heavily in AI to transform their banking operations,” Njay said. “But for many regional and community financial institutions, staffing and resourcing this capacity is simply out of reach. The interface democratizes access to AI.

Interface’s core product is a collection of voice and text AI agents designed to handle basic customer service requests for banks. Powered by models trained on internal data, agents can perform tasks like helping change mortgage payments and opening new accounts.

Banks can personalize agents by adjusting them to their internal data. Agents can also be configured to sell products based on information such as the content of previous chats.

“Our AI is purpose-built for the banking industry,” Njay said, “with pre-built integrations, data models and workflows.”

Financial institutions are testing AI – and particularly generative AI – for applications ranging from customer service to predictive analytics. According to a March survey cited in American Banker, more than half of global and U.S. banks intend to implement generative AI at some level within the next year.

Besides Interface, AI startups trying to grab a piece of banks’ business include Hyperplane, which builds AI models to predict customer behavior; Cambio, which creates AI to talk to bank customers; and Digital Onboarding, specializing in strengthening banks’ relationships with their customers.

Bank customers, however, are wary of technology. In a JD Power survey, only 27% said they would trust AI for financial information and advice, while less than half said they would follow AI product recommendations.

Institutions also don’t necessarily deploy AI for customer communications, which is a large part of Interface’s business. But in some good news, credit unions – one of Interface’s largest customer segments – have aggressively adopted chatbot technology this year.

“Our platform has several levers to create value,” said Njay. “The number of unique applications of AI is one of the key contributing factors to Interface’s ability to withstand potential headwinds. »

With the new funds from the financing round, Interface plans to expand its 120-person team across North America and India and “accelerate go-to-market initiatives.”