Klearcom, founded in 2018 by Liam Dunne helps multinational contact centres avoid voice call outages, using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to test interactive voice response systems (IVR’s) used by businesses to manage incoming calls. IVR’s allow customers to interact with call centers and steward their calls through menus activated either by keypad selection or speech response.
Liam (CEO) first looked at Dublin and Cork as locations for the business but as a native of the south east soon realised Waterford would be best place to grow an internationally focused business from the ground up. He initially contacted the Local Enterprise Office in 2019 and received a Feasibility Study Grant in 2020 to assist with the creation of a Minimum Viable Product. This was followed in 2021, by a Priming Grant, Employment Grants & Marketing / Consultancy grant.
Liam appreciated the importance of this support, “Our offering at the time was a SaaS / software solution for large multinational organisations with the capability of testing their inbound IVR and voice infrastructure. Any start up is tough, but the ambitions and targets we set ourselves, particularly during the pandemic were especially ambitious.
“The Local Enterprise Office was there for us at the start with the support and resources we needed. It’s more than the grants, it’s the advice, mentoring and support structure which gives you the confidence to achieve your goals. They also knew when it was the right time to scale up.”
2023 was particularly important to Klearcom, in March it received €1.5 million in an investment round. Then in November was awarded ‘New business of the year’ at the Waterford Chamber Awards and ‘Emerging company of the year’ award at the Irish Technology Awards.
The awards are gratifying to Liam and a great acknowledgement of the teams progress, but the funding is vital to help expand their business globally, “The funding will support further growth in our workforce, with Klearcom planning to add to its technical team based in its Waterford HQ, and its marketing and sales teams in Waterford and the U.S and have just recently opened an office in Ahmedabad, India. We expect to have a team of 80+ by the end of 2024 and double our 2023 revenues.
“The company has seen rapid growth as enterprises seek an effective solution to manage large volumes of calls, while also keeping customers.”
Local Enterprise Office Waterford is here to help you start a business, expand an existing business or reach new markets. It provides advice, information and supports in starting up or growing your business as part of a network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices across Ireland.
Contact your Local Enterprise Office Waterford for their latest training programmes and events schedule on www.localenterprise.ie/Waterford or email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie for access to all their training support information.
To learn more about Klearcon see www.klearcom.com.