Sifted - Can AI talk its way into your job?

Good morning there,

Since Klarna announced its AI assistant is doing the work of 700 customer service employees a few months ago, I’ve had AI and work security on my mind a lot more.

According to the company, AI handles two-thirds of its customer service chats, is rapid at answering queries and is set to give a nice boost to profit this year. I get into the AI and work debate below and also want to hear from you: which industries do you think are most at risk? What other sectors are deploying AI successfully? What stories should Sifted be telling? Get in touch.

Elsewhere today, we speak to neurodiverse founders about their experiences of running startups, look into how HSBC’s Zing payments app stacks up against competitors like Wise and Revolut and have news on independent shop marketplace Trouva being acquired for the third time in two years.

Plus… the Sifted Summit super early bird ticket sale ends at midnight this Friday. Want to save up to £200 on the cost of your ticket and join 3,000 other members of the European tech community in London on October 2-3? Snap up the discount here.

— Mimi Billing, Europe editor

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Can AI talk its way into your job?

In the last decade or so it feels like every bank, e-commerce site and other online business has increasingly handed over more and more responsibility to AI chatbots for customer service. And if you’ve ever used one, you’ll know that solving your query can feel like answering a riddle. 

In late February, Swedish payments scaleup Klarna became the latest to join in, announcing that its new OpenAI-powered chatbot successfully handles the work of 700 people — and quickly. According to the company, customers can have their queries resolved in less than two minutes, compared to 11 minutes before.

It was a timely announcement ahead of a potential IPO for the fintech. Alongside the efficiency of its AI assistant, the company says it is also set to boost profit by $40m this year.

This comes after I reported on the company outsourcing around 500 customer service staff last year, and the layoffs it made the year before. Although Klarna says its AI assistant hasn’t replaced any of its employees (and that outsourced customer service staff that Klarna no longer needs will serve other clients at the company where they are now employed) it’s not alone in its adoption of AI limiting the need for new hires. As Sifted reported earlier this year, companies are going one step further and trying to build autonomous, money-making companies staffed by virtual, AI agents — a far cry from the OG chatbots that kicked us off. 

All this has made me think of work security a lot more recently — and what we do about it in the face of AI; not just the threat it poses, but how we deal with it on a societal level.

Some governments have started moving. A recently announced subsidy in Singapore proposes funding a full-time diploma for its citizens over the age of 40, for example. And though Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski doesn’t offer a solution himself, he has flagged the need for policymakers to come up with solutions sooner, rather than later.

But readers, I want to hear from you. What is the solution? What's our place in the AI-assisted workforce? Is upskilling the solution, or is a universal basic income the answer? I’m eager to hear your views.

— Mimi Billing, Europe editor

💰 Hoxton Ventures-backed Fy! has acquired independent boutique marketplace Trouva — the third time the startup has changed hands in the past two years. 

💸 US private equity firm, Blackstone, is set to buy the former Britishvolt industrial site, with plans to build one of Europe’s largest data centres, according to the Financial Times. The deal would see Blackstone fund up to £110m for local development and pay £20m to acquire the land. Britishvolt, a UK startup which was building a gigafactory in Cambois, in the northeast of England, collapsed into administration a year ago.

💷 HSBC’s Zing has less than 20% of Wise’s monthly downloads — but CEO insists it’s ‘bang on plan’.

💪 ‘Different isn’t wrong’: Neurodiverse founders share their experiences of running a startup.

Fribourg, Switzerland-based Bcomp, a maker of bio-based textiles for use in things like automotive interiors, satellite panels and bridges, raised $40m in Series C funding. EGS Beteiligungen AG led the round and was joined by investors including Verve Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, RKKVC, Generali, Airbus Ventures, BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures and Volvo Cars Tech Fund.

Maastricht, Netherlands-based Mosa Meat, which makes cultivated meat products , raised €40m in funding. Lowercarbon Capital and M Ventures co-led the round and were joined by investors including Invest-NL, Limburgs Energie Fonds (LEF) B.V., LIOF, PHW Group, XO Ventures and Doux Investments.

Berlin-based Finmid, which provides lending infrastructure to help B2B platforms offer their SME customers access to tailored financial support, raised €35m in funding from investors including Blossom Capital and Earlybird Venture Capital.

Newcastle, UK-based Red Rover Interactive, a game development studio focusing on multiplayer games in the survival genre, raised $15m in Series A funding. KRAFTON Inc. led the round and was joined by investors including Tirta Ventures, Overwolf, The Games Fund, Behold Ventures, GEM Capital, Lifelike Capital and Acequia Capital. 

Paris-based Veesual, which allows customers of e-commerce fashion brands to virtually try on clothes, raised €5m in seed funding. AXA Venture Partners and Techstars co-led the round. 

Utrecht, Netherlands-based Healthsage, which is developing an open-source generative AI platform for the healthcare industry, raised €3m in seed funding. Peak led the round and was joined by investors including Healthy.Capital and Rubio Impact Ventures.

Gothenburg, Sweden-based OlsAro, which develops wheat varieties that are resilient to environmental stressors such as salt, heat and drought, raised €2.5m in seed funding. Future Food Fund and PINC co-led the round and were joined by investors including AgFunder, Flora Ventures and Mudcake.

Lausanne, Switzerland-based Isospec Analytics, which is working on biomolecular analysis tech, raised $1.9m in pre-seed funding. Founderful led the round and was joined by investors including Tiny.vc, another.vc and Venture Kick.

Valkenburg, Netherlands-based AirHub, a mobile software platform and online dashboard for managing drones in security, critical infrastructure and emergency response operations, raised €1m in funding from LUMO Labs and Lumaux.

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