Zurich, Switzerland, 11 April 2022 - Unique, the AI sales intelligence platform transforming sales using conversational AI and automation, today announced the closing of a USD $6.4 million seed extension round, bringing the total seed amount raised to USD $12 million.
Investors in the extension round include the Swiss private bank Pictet (acting on behalf of clients), Constantin Sturdza, and Swiss venture capital firm VI Partners.
Unique is also announcing that it has acquired Ciara, the pioneer in real-time meeting intelligence. Founded in 2019 in Munich, Germany by serial entrepreneurs Martin Heibel and Konstantin Krauss, Ciara analyses voice data to deliver deal insights and conversation guidance to sales and customer service professionals. Ciara’s IP, including deal assistance, will be integrated into the Unique platform, which includes real-time capabilities for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom ecosystems.
Unique plans to use the additional funding to continue its rapid growth, and aims to hire 100 new employees across Europe within the next quarters, including at its recently opened offices in the UK and Netherlands. Unique has quickly gained customers in a number of industries – from technology to professional services, and in particular, banking and insurance.
"Since our launch, we have seen strong demand from businesses that want to radically improve and support how their sales teams perform and close deals using the power of conversational AI. We’re thrilled that our latest funding and acquisition of Ciara will help fuel our rapid growth during this critical time,”said Manuel Grenacher, CEO and Co-Founder of Unique. “As where we work continues to evolve, our solution helps ensure that remote, hybrid and in-office workers have the intelligence and support they need to work effectively.”
As the future of work continues to evolve, and sales teams are either working in office, remotely, or in a hybrid mix, Unique is on a mission to transform sales using AI to deeply analyze customer conversations to deliver real-time insights to help salespeople understand their customers better and close more deals. Unique’s modern selling approach enables teams to win more deals, by building more productive relationships with customers, and giving them a transparent, easy, inspiring buying experience. Unique was founded by serial entrepreneurs Manuel Grenacher and Andreas Hauri in 2021, following their own experiences of building and guiding a sales team at Coresystems, a B2B SaaS startup they successfully sold to SAP.
How Unique Works
Unique has built the first AI-driven sales intelligence platform that delivers value to both the seller and buyer to move both businesses forward:
- For Sales Teams: Unique leverages AI to record and analyze sales conversations in 12 languages, including Swiss German, to deliver real-time insights and coaching to sales teams that adds to their decision-making and focus and helps them win more deals and build long-lasting customer partnerships. In addition, automation cuts down on the team’s administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on customer relations.
- For Sales Leaders: Unique significantly reduces the time to train salespeople, which leads to an improvement of team’s performance. Unique increases deal visibility and its accuracy.
- For Customers: Unique captures the most important, key moments of the sales video call that are securely shared in a “Deal Room” in one place that buyers can refer back to and share for a more transparent, seamless buying experience.
Joe Neale, Partner at VI Partners, said, “We’ve been impressed at how quickly Unique has gained traction, winning a number of important customers across Europe, who recognize the power that Unique’s AI-driven conversational sales intelligence and automation can drive their sales teams to more success. As one specific example, we think the platform will make it vastly more easy for financial advisors to comply with their obligation to document conversations with clients.”
Constantin Sturdza (Investor) said, “The private banking and investment advisory industry has always looked to seamlessly enhance client interactions and ensure the highest quality service by focusing on client needs and understanding them, while working within a strict and at times complex regulatory framework. Unique is solving a massive challenge in the industry by offering actionable insights to improve the quality and relevance of client conversations, catalyzing more valuable and stronger relationships with the advisors and teams serving them.”
Unique raises USD $6.4 Million Seed Extension and Acquires Ciara
Investors in the extension round include the Swiss private bank Pictet (acting on behalf of clients), Constantin Sturdza, and Swiss venture capital firm VI Partners.
Unique is also announcing that it has acquired Ciara, the pioneer in real-time meeting intelligence. Founded in 2019 in Munich, Germany by serial entrepreneurs Martin Heibel and Konstantin Krauss, Ciara analyses voice data to deliver deal insights and conversation guidance to sales and customer service professionals. Ciara’s IP, including deal assistance, will be integrated into the Unique platform, which includes real-time capabilities for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom ecosystems.
Unique plans to use the additional funding to continue its rapid growth, and aims to hire 100 new employees across Europe within the next quarters, including at its recently opened offices in the UK and Netherlands. Unique has quickly gained customers in a number of industries – from technology to professional services, and in particular, banking and insurance.
"Since our launch, we have seen strong demand from businesses that want to radically improve and support how their sales teams perform and close deals using the power of conversational AI. We’re thrilled that our latest funding and acquisition of Ciara will help fuel our rapid growth during this critical time,”said Manuel Grenacher, CEO and Co-Founder of Unique. “As where we work continues to evolve, our solution helps ensure that remote, hybrid and in-office workers have the intelligence and support they need to work effectively.”
As the future of work continues to evolve, and sales teams are either working in office, remotely, or in a hybrid mix, Unique is on a mission to transform sales using AI to deeply analyze customer conversations to deliver real-time insights to help salespeople understand their customers better and close more deals. Unique’s modern selling approach enables teams to win more deals, by building more productive relationships with customers, and giving them a transparent, easy, inspiring buying experience. Unique was founded by serial entrepreneurs Manuel Grenacher and Andreas Hauri in 2021, following their own experiences of building and guiding a sales team at Coresystems, a B2B SaaS startup they successfully sold to SAP.
How Unique Works
Unique has built the first AI-driven sales intelligence platform that delivers value to both the seller and buyer to move both businesses forward:
Joe Neale, Partner at VI Partners, said, “We’ve been impressed at how quickly Unique has gained traction, winning a number of important customers across Europe, who recognize the power that Unique’s AI-driven conversational sales intelligence and automation can drive their sales teams to more success. As one specific example, we think the platform will make it vastly more easy for financial advisors to comply with their obligation to document conversations with clients.”
Constantin Sturdza (Investor) said, “The private banking and investment advisory industry has always looked to seamlessly enhance client interactions and ensure the highest quality service by focusing on client needs and understanding them, while working within a strict and at times complex regulatory framework. Unique is solving a massive challenge in the industry by offering actionable insights to improve the quality and relevance of client conversations, catalyzing more valuable and stronger relationships with the advisors and teams serving them.”