A team of three IIT Bombay graduates has achieved a significant milestone by securing $500,000 in funding from Y Combinator, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators. The funding will enable the trio’s startup, Vocera, to revolutionize the testing and evaluation of voice AI technology.

Founded by Sidhant Kabra, Tarush Agarwal, and Shashij Gupta, Vocera aims to address a critical gap in the market by automating the testing of voice AI systems. Their platform helps companies improve the accuracy and efficiency of voice agents, reducing the manual hours spent on testing while minimizing human errors. The problem, according to Tarush Agarwal, who studied from DBMS English School, Jamshedpur, lies in the time-consuming and error-prone processes many companies use to test their voice AI systems. "We noticed a huge gap in how companies were testing their voice AI. It’s often time-consuming and prone to human error," Agarwal explained.

Vocera’s solution automates the testing of voice agents by simulating real-world customer interactions. The platform tests voice agents against various customer personas, providing actionable insights that help companies improve the agents' responses. The team hopes to set a new benchmark in the industry for reliable voice AI testing.

The funding from Y Combinator will accelerate the startup’s growth and expansion, allowing it to reach more companies globally. Sidhant Kabra, another co-founder, who studied at Rajendra Vidyalaya, Jamshedpur, said, "Y Combinator is a tremendous opportunity for us to accelerate our growth and bring our voice AI testing platform to more companies worldwide."

Y Combinator, known for supporting unicorns like Razorpay, Groww, and Meesho, has a history of backing successful companies. The inclusion of Vocera in its portfolio further cements its reputation for supporting game-changing innovations.

Tarush Agarwal has worked in quantitative finance, developing ultra-low latency systems that turned a loss-making trading strategy into a profitable operation, generating millions in monthly recurring revenue. Shashij Gupta is an expert in NLP and machine learning, having authored a highly-cited paper on transformer testing at ETH Zurich and worked at Google as a quantitative researcher. Sidhant Kabra has a track record of scaling AI-based startups, advising Fortune 500 companies, and driving growth in the edtech space.

Together, the three IIT Bombay graduates are looking to redefine the standards for voice AI testing and lead the way toward more efficient, accurate, and reliable AI systems in industries worldwide.