São Paulo, March 21, 2024 - The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) saved CloudWalk Inc., owner of the InfinitePay financial services platform, $20 million during the year 2023. This calculation refers to the time and money saved through the use of efficient AI-based systems. Overall, AI-generated tools were responsible for 75% of all services provided by InfinitePay in 2023 – about 2.6 million requests – a volume that traditionally would require an additional 1,100 customer service employees.
"We’ve been using AI since the founding of CloudWalk 10 years ago, but with the rapid development of generative AI, we’re using the technology in new ways to serve over 1.2 million InfinitePay customers," says Luis Silva, CEO and founder of CloudWalk. "We realized most entrepreneurs had questions that could be answered automatically, as long as those answers were validated with an extra layer of human intelligence. That’s why we had our best customer service professionals train the AI agents."
The combination of human validation and artificial intelligence has led to huge gains in efficiency. Today, CloudWalk’s AI assistant named "Claudio Walker," automatically responds to a customer's first question and starts the queue for a human customer service interaction, with wait times of just over a minute.
On average, customers served by "Claudio Walker" had their questions answered within seven minutes, compared to the 22 minutes it took for the human analyst to resolve the issue. Additionally, calls handled by "Cláudio" have an average satisfaction rate of 68%, which is slightly higher than the rate of human service, which is currently 67%.
Ally of People
Despite the efficiency gains from AI, CloudWalk has not reduced its workforce and is looking to hire more professionals who specialize in AI. A study of LinkedIn data shows CloudWalk was one of four Brazilian unicorns that grew the most in terms of employee numbers from January 2022 to January 2024, with a 50% increase. Currently, Cloudwalk has 530 employees working in 15 different countries.
"During the so-called startup winter, where many companies were forced to do layoffs, we were still hiring responsibly," says Silva. " Within CloudWalk, we’ve also encouraged all employees to learn and use the main AI solutions available on the market," he says.
AI Fronts
Beyond customer service, CloudWalk uses AI to optimize digital security, credit approvals, new product development, communication, and human resources. In November 2023, the company was included in an AI report published by Coatue called The Coming Revolution, where it was named the only fintech in Coatue’s portfolio that’s among the global leaders in artificial intelligence.
Entrepreneurs using the InfinitePay platform are constantly in contact with AI-based technologies. The tool called Intelligent Credit uses AI to account for more than 1,000 indicators needed to approve a loan in real time. In 2023, more than $250 million in credit was distributed through the app. Another highlight is the "Magic PDV" tool, which uses technology to read menus, catalogs, and spreadsheets from images, automatically creating a list of products with their respective prices.
The return on CloudWalk’s AI investment has been significant, allowing the company to end 2023 with its first positive result. The fintech achieved a net profit of $22.3 million and gross revenue of $320.5 million, a 40% growth compared to 2022. The unicorn also saw its customer base grow almost 204%, reaching more than 1.2 million customers.
"Many companies are just starting to use generative AI and realizing the positive effects on their business. Because we were pioneers, we are one of the first global startups to demonstrate the impact of AI with data," concludes Silva.
About CloudWalk
CloudWalk is a global financial services platform with a primary mission to revolutionize the way individuals and small to medium-sized businesses handle money. As the owner of the InfinitePay and Jim.com brands, the Company has been operating since 2019 with blockchain-based products, including digital banking, loans, cashback cards, online sales, digital wallets, and payment terminals. It has more than 1 million customers across 5,568 Brazilian municipalities. Since its founding, the Company has raised $365 million and was last valued at $2.15 billion in November 2021 for a $150 million Series C led by Coatue. For additional information, please visit www.cloudwalk.io.