The Emergence of LimeChat

60 minutes.

That’s how long I waited on hold. My mind racing through the options to recover my money. After a point, the money didn’t seem to matter anymore. What mattered was this huge multinational telecom company sticking it to a client just because they could.

I disconnected the call. The hold music paused and the room suddenly seemed uncannily quiet. My hands gripped the phone tightly as anger spread through my entire being. They left me high and dry, and there was nothing I could do about it. Or was there?

The hunt for the next big idea

After I resolved my telecom issue by visiting the store, Aniket and I began our market research. We called up select banks, airlines, hotels, travel agencies, and online shopping brands, and soon enough a disturbing pattern arose. Call support is a headache with long wait times, irritating IVRs, and the solemn “we will get back to you shortly” which takes longer than the commute from New Delhi to Los Angeles. Customers had unknowingly resigned themselves to experiences that ranged from poor to mediocre.

On the flip-side, delivering great customer support is an expensive affair. Businesses find it hard to scale team sizes to manage burgeoning client requests, which consequently leads to subpar user interaction.

We HAD to do something.

Level 3 AI – The new kid on the block

Roughly every decade, a revolutionary medium attempts to redefine communication worldwide. This started with telephones, followed by television in the later 20th century, websites in the 2000s, and apps in the 2010s. Virtual assistants hold the potential to be the next frontier for communication, but have failed to show promise in India.

A look into the US market provided us a glimpse of the future where significant improvements in chatbot technology, labelled as Level 3 AI, showed encouraging signs. Level 3 AI was the first in history to understand conversation context, giving it the potential to carry out a natural conversation with a user, and guide them towards their goal. Its unprecedented ability to understand conversations and carry out actions enabled up to 70% automation of the support queries! (compared to 30% previously)

The capability of Level 3 AI Technology

A look into the US market provided us a glimpse of the future where significant improvements in chatbot technology, labelled as Level 3 AI, showed encouraging signs. Level 3 AI was the first in history to understand conversation context, giving it the potential to carry out a natural conversation with a user, and guide them towards their goal. Its unprecedented ability to understand conversations and carry out actions enabled up to 70% automation of the support queries! (compared to 30% previously)

Direct to Consumer

Consumer experience applies to essentially every business vertical. We wanted to focus on the markets where our advanced technology would have the most impact. Being bachelors, we had a habit of ordering everything possible to our flat – from groceries and food to appliances and grooming supplies. One particular night we were waiting in anticipation for a highly acclaimed game ‘The Settlers of Catan’. It was already overdue by 2 days. The package finally arrived and to our surprise, it contained a handwritten letter of apology and promo codes to their online application. The personalisation shown by the company placed a smile on our faces and turned our anger into appreciation!

In that moment we realised the potential of introducing Level 3 chatbots to D2C (Direct to Consumer) companies, where customers value great service but extraordinary experiences are rare. Our idea received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback during preliminary talks with e-commerce companies. Several companies had tried using chatbots in the past, but their subpar quality left these companies wanting for more.

Aniket and I working from our first office

It all started with an Idea

Emboldened by the possibilities of delivering exceptional customer experiences on a large scale, we quit our jobs to work on our idea full time. Soon after we started, our sound sense of purpose towards our bold vision, our passion, and our expertise in AI helped us raise our angel round from Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, the founders of Snapdeal. Thus began our journey with LimeChat, and we haven’t looked back since.

We are excited to move forward alongside our team, family, and friends. We believe that the choices we are making today will redefine the future of user experience and change our lives for years to come. No matter what happens, this adventure will leave us with a remarkable story to tell!