Observed Signal · Oct 14, 2025 · Funding · Source: Tech.eu · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Nvidia-Backed PolyAI CEO Aims to Crack Voice AI
Tech.eu profiles Nikola Mrkšić, CEO of London-based voice AI startup PolyAI, which is backed by Nvidia. Born in Serbia, Mrkšić co-founded PolyAI in 2017 with Cambridge classmates. The company builds AI voice assistants for call centers, serving clients like Hilton, Marriott, FedEx, and Unicredit. PolyAI raised £50m in Series C funding last year, led by Hedesophia and NVentures (Nvidia's VC arm), at a valuation near $500m. Revenues grew 75% to £11.9m in the year ending January 2025. Mrkšić discusses challenges such as customer preference for human agents, citing Klarna's reversal. PolyAI uses proprietary LLMs as well as frontier models from OpenAI and DeepSeek. A new funding round is expected later this year.
PolyAI is a leading voice AI startup with significant funding and enterprise adoption, indicating growth in conversational AI for customer service, which is relevant to MarTech and CX.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- PolyAI raised £50m in Series C funding, valuing it at nearly $500m.
- PolyAI counts Hilton, Marriott, FedEx, and Unicredit among its clients.
- PolyAI revenues grew 75% to £11.9m in the year ending January 31, 2025.
- Nvidia's NVentures participated in PolyAI's Series C round.
- PolyAI is expected to announce a fresh funding round later this year.
Connected Companies & Entities
16 Entities mapped“The Serbia-born CEO of Nvidia-backed UK AI voice startup PolyAI has a nice way with words....”
“a triumph which was given a boost last month when Nvidia’s man of the moment CEO Jensen Huang named it as one of its eight star UK startups...”
“These include Las Vegas casinos, Hilton and Marriott hotel chains...”
“and the financial institution Unicredit....”
“US delivery service FedEx...”
“These include Las Vegas casinos, Hilton and Marriott hotel chains...”
“with participation from existing investors including Khosla Ventures and Point72 Ventures...”
“which went on to be acquired by Apple 18 months later...”
“PolyAI uses its own proprietary large language models as well as frontier model companies like OpenAI and DeepSeek....”
“PolyAI uses its own proprietary large language models as well as frontier model companies like OpenAI and DeepSeek....”
“Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said its AI voice approach led to 'lower quality' and Klarna flipped from its AI-first policy...”
“it is easy to see why tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft have tried to crack automated call handling...”
“it is easy to see why tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft have tried to crack automated call handling...”
“Current startup competitors include the likes of Germany’s Parloa...”
“it is easy to see why tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft have tried to crack automated call handling...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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