Software company Heyday revealed its acquisition of CAD 6.5 million (USD 5.1 million) during the recently finished seed funding, reported by Tech Crunch. This fund will be dedicated to developing its artificial intelligence chatbot.
The funding round was led by Investissement Quebec and is participated by Innovobot and Desjardins Capital, said Beta Kit. Other angel investors include Novacap’s Etienne Veilleux and former Reebok CMO and business coach Yan Martin.
The round was a seed extension that was completed in two stages, which were finished back in August 2020 and January 2021.
The chatbot is accessible via various platforms including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google’s Business Messages, and email. Customers can send their messages to retailers through any of the supported platforms.
On the retailers’ side, customer support is accessible through a single dashboard. This means that they only need to view one dashboard to review messages from different platforms.
The dashboard automatically sifts through the messages to determine which ones are customer service-related or sales-related. Where application, the AI system creates an automated response.
Heyday co-founder and CEO Steve Desjarlais are optimistic that the service will allow retailers to automate their processes. It is also expected to enable them to personalize their customer interactions online.
Etienne Merineau, another co-founder and CMO, describes the service as an “all-in-one unified customer messaging platform.”
Aside from the unified messaging dashboard offered by Heyday, the service also offers order updates and product recommendations. It can be integrated into Salesforce, Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop, and Lightspeed.
Merineau believes that customer service and sales are separate services, so focusing on each of the two while integrating them in one platform is necessary. He said, “We believe that helping is the new selling.”
Desjarlais added, “We’re really against the ticketing ID system. A customer is not a ticket… I truly believe that every single customer is a relationship with a brand that needs to be nurtured over time and that will give more value to the brand over time.”
Desjarlais and Mernineau highlight Heyday’s chatbot as a move toward the new normal. Marineau commented, “Retailers who believe that [the changes brought about by] COVID-19 are temporary are in the wrong mindset.”
“The new mantra of future-forward brands is ‘adapt or die.’ Brands obviously want to deliver great service, but they care about the bottom line. We help them kill two birds with one stone.”
