Amazon Ring had a call problem last year. Phone calls piled up over the holidays faster than humans could pick them up.
So Ring did what many firms now do. It looked at AI.
But Ring did not pick the first tool. It tested more than 40 AI voice tools and then chose a startup called Vapi.
Today, every inbound call to Ring runs through that tool.
Vapi just raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Peak XV Partners. The deal values the firm at about $500 million.
Microsoft's M12, Kleiner Perkins, and Bessemer Venture Partners also joined the round. That brings Vapi's total funding to $72 million.
The Ring win is more than a name on a sales list. Ring is owned by Amazon, the biggest cloud and AI firm in the world.
When Amazon's hardware arm picks a startup over 40 rivals, that startup is doing something right.
Ring's head of software, Jason Mitura, said happy-user scores rose after the switch. His team can now tune how the AI sounds without help from coders.
For a daily read on the AI deals moving real money, Market Briefs breaks it down in five minutes a day, plus a free investing class when you join.
Vapi started in 2023 as an AI therapist. Founder Jordan Dearsley used it on his daily walks.
Few users wanted the therapy app. They wanted the voice tech below it.
So Dearsley and co-founder Nikhil Gupta pivoted. They launched Vapi to the public in 2024.
The tool lets firms build AI voice agents for jobs like support calls, sales calls, and lead checks.
It has handled more than 1 billion calls so far. On a normal day, it takes 1 to 5 million more.
Vapi is not the only player in AI voice. Sierra, Decagon, PolyAI, Bland, Retell, and ElevenLabs are all in the same race.
Each one is trying to take real calls without humans. The winners will be the tools that big firms trust at scale.
Vapi's pitch is the back-end, not the apps on top. That gives buyers like Ring more control over how their AI sounds on a live call.
Vapi's client list also includes Intuit, New York Life, Instawork, Kavak, UnityAI, and Cherry. More than 1 million coders have built on its self-serve site.
The early sign-ups gave Vapi a wide base before its first big firm deal. Yearly sales are now in the "healthy" eight figures, an investor told TechCrunch.
Customer support is one of the largest cost centers for any firm with users. Cutting hold times - or running calls 24/7 - can move the bottom line in a hurry. That is why every big tech firm is chasing the same prize.
Vapi has about 100 staff right now. It plans to use the new cash to grow its tech and sales teams.
The bigger story sits behind the round.
AI agents are no longer a future thing in support. They are picking up the phone today.
Ring picked Vapi over 40 other options for a reason. That bar is not getting lower.
For a daily read on the firms winning the AI race, join 350,000+ investors reading Market Briefs - you also get a 45-minute investing class thrown in.
