87. Athena AI

Just Started Shortlisted

For the company which, despite being in business for only one year, has already demonstrated impressive growth, success, or disruption in its field.

Startups 100: Just Started Award

Founders: Askar Bulegenov and Artem Shitov
Year founded: 2023
Website: athenachat.ai

Customer service has changed unrecognisably over the years. There was a time when a business might need a call centre to handle queries and complaints, with the odd letter arriving through the post, too. These days, a customer contact could come in via email, SMS, online chat, Facebook or Twitter/X…on top of the phone calls and letters.

Athena AI has developed an all-in-one messenger system for businesses to help address this issue. Its platform is, naturally, powered by built-in AI capabilities. As well as collecting customer queries across numerous channels, the AI can answer them itself, on the spot.

The clever tech helps businesses to automate their customer support – whether the communication comes in by email, WhatsApp, text or various social media channels.

Regardless of which channel a customer query comes through, Athena’s AI chatbot can help to answer.

The London-based tech startup is not long out of the blocks – it was founded in 2023 by Askar Bulegenov and Artem Shitov. If you recognise Askar’s name, there’s a reason. He is also one of the founders of Grocemania, the quick delivery startup.

Naturally, with so many great CRM platforms around, this is a crowded market in which to launch. Athena AI’s solution stands out from the competition by integrating AI capabilities into its all-in-one messenger, which can itself then be integrated into larger CRM tools.

Regardless of which channel a customer query comes through, Athena’s AI chatbot can help to answer. One of the main benefits is this deflects messages that would otherwise require a human response. For customers, that means no waiting in the queue for a customer service rep. For businesses, it’s a huge saving on overheads.

The AI capabilities are powered by a state-of-the-art machine learning model that has been trained on a massive dataset of customer support conversations.

Athena AI’s AI capabilities are powered by a state-of-the-art machine learning model that has been trained on a massive dataset of customer support conversations. This model is able to understand and respond to customer queries with human-like accuracy, providing businesses with a reliable and efficient way to automate their customer support.

In addition to its AI capabilities, Athena AI’s messenger also offers a wide range of features that make it ideal for businesses of all sizes. These include a unified inbox for managing all customer conversations, chatbots, team collaboration tools and analytics.

Athena AI’s target consumers are SMBs and corporates. But, the tech also has applications even for influencers and freelancers who sell or provide customer support via multiple channels. It could be a massive helping hand for a solo dropshipper, for example, who may not have capacity to answer all queries one-on-one.

The company’s goal is to empower over a million businesses with its cutting-edge technology, enabling them to automate their services, streamline communications, and elevate their operations to new heights.