Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how businesses interact with customers, moving beyond simple chatbots to intelligent agents capable of managing conversations, automating workflows, and supporting business operations across multiple communication channels. As consumers increasingly expect instant, personalised responses whether through voice calls, messaging apps, email, or live chat, companies are under growing pressure to deliver seamless customer experiences while controlling operational costs. Meeting these expectations requires AI systems that not only communicate naturally but also integrate with internal business processes. Berlin based startup telli is building technology to address this challenge and has now secured fresh funding to accelerate the global expansion of its AI powered customer operations platform.
telli has raised $15 million in a seed funding round led by redalpine, with participation from Mutschler, Cherry Ventures, Y Combinator, and several angel investors.
The latest investment increases the company’s total funding to more than $18.5 million.
The new capital will support product innovation, team expansion, and broader adoption of its artificial intelligence platform among businesses serving consumer markets.
Building AI for Customer Operations
Founded in 2024 by Seb Hapte Selassie, Philipp Baumanns, and Finn zur Muehlen, telli develops artificial intelligence agents designed to automate customer facing operations.
Its platform enables businesses to deploy intelligent virtual agents across voice, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and email from a single unified system.
Rather than operating as standalone chatbots, the AI agents are built to manage complete customer interactions while supporting sales, customer service, appointment scheduling, and operational workflows.
The company aims to help businesses improve customer experiences while increasing efficiency across multiple communication channels.
Introducing Charlie
At the centre of telli’s platform is Charlie, an artificial intelligence coworker developed to support customer operations teams.
Charlie assists businesses in building and optimising AI agents while connecting internal business systems to customer communication channels.
The platform continuously analyses customer interactions, identifies operational bottlenecks, and provides recommendations that help organisations improve communication quality and workflow performance.
By combining conversational AI with operational intelligence, Charlie enables businesses to refine customer engagement strategies while reducing manual workloads.
The company believes AI should work alongside human teams rather than simply replacing existing customer service tools.
Managing Growing Communication Complexity
Consumer expectations continue evolving as businesses expand their digital communication channels.
Customers increasingly interact through messaging applications, voice assistants, social platforms, and email while expecting consistent experiences regardless of channel.
At the same time, organisations are adopting AI powered assistants for activities including appointment scheduling, product recommendations, customer support, and contract management.
telli addresses this growing complexity by providing a unified platform capable of managing customer conversations across multiple channels while maintaining consistent service quality.
This integrated approach helps businesses simplify customer operations while supporting scalable growth.
Expanding Enterprise Adoption
According to the company, its AI agents already manage millions of customer conversations for businesses ranging from small and medium sized companies to large enterprises.
The platform supports organisations by answering enquiries, qualifying potential customers, booking appointments, resolving service requests, and automating repetitive operational processes.
The newly secured funding will allow telli to strengthen its engineering and commercial teams while continuing development of Charlie and its broader multi channel AI platform.
The company also plans to help more consumer focused businesses adopt AI driven customer operations.
Advancing the Future of Customer Experience
Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important component of customer engagement strategies as organisations seek greater efficiency and more personalised interactions.
Businesses are moving beyond isolated AI tools toward integrated platforms capable of managing entire customer journeys across multiple communication channels.
With fresh funding, expanding enterprise adoption, and continued investment in conversational artificial intelligence, telli is positioning itself as a next generation customer operations platform. By combining intelligent AI agents with workflow automation and operational insights, the company aims to help businesses deliver faster, more consistent customer experiences while simplifying the growing complexity of modern customer communications.
