Cresta, which uses AI to mentor customer service agents in real time, raises $50M

Cresta, an AI-powered platform that offers real-time support to help customer service agents respond to inquiries on calls or in chats, has raised $50 million in a series B round of funding. The company's latest investment, which was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Allen & Company, and Porsche Ventures, comes after a year of growth that saw its revenues quadruple. It's difficult to read too much into any first-year revenue growth metrics, but it's clear that companies are hankering for technology that helps them optimize their customer-facing operations. Contact centers have proven fertile ground for AI, with a slew of companies emerging to offer their own take on how automation can improve companies' interactions with their customers. Just today, Uniphore announced a fresh $140 million investment to analyze emotion and engagement in both voice and video-based calls, while Talkdesk launched a new "human-in-the-loop" AI trainer for contact centers.