telli Raises $15M to Power AI Customer Service
The telli team - © telli
Berlin-based AI startup telli has closed a $15 million seed round to help businesses handle customer communication with AI, according to the company's press release. The round was led by redalpine, with participation from Mutschler and a group of well-known angel investors, including Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer, Adyen's Alexa von Bismarck, former Flixbus and Lufthansa director Martin Koehler, and Paragon Partners' Krischan von Moeller. Existing backers Cherry Ventures and Y Combinator also joined the round.
telli's founders say the way people talk to companies is changing fast. Most business to consumer communication still runs through calls, emails, forms and WhatsApp, backed by clunky CRMs, call centers and manual work behind the scenes. Increasingly, though, customers are turning to AI agents to compare offers, get support or book appointments, and some expect their own AI assistants to deal with companies on their behalf.
That's the gap telli wants to fill. The platform lets B2C companies build and deploy AI agents across voice, chat, SMS, WhatsApp and email, while managing conversations, reviewing calls and improving performance along the way. At the center of it sits Charlie, an AI coworker built to help teams set up agents, connect systems, spot issues and keep improving customer communication on its own.
The technology is already at work. telli's agents handle millions of conversations for companies ranging from small businesses to large enterprises, including Sky, Enpal and Vaillant, answering calls, qualifying leads and resolving customer requests.
With fresh capital in hand, telli plans to grow its team significantly, with more than 15 open roles across engineering, go to market and customer operations as it builds what the founders call the next chapter for the company.
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