VC-backed OpenFi appoints new co-founder to help supercharge adoption of conversational AI

UK-based OpenFi has added a new founding team member that would help accelerate the expansion of its conversational AI platform for lead generation and customer nurture.

Christos Votsis will join the startup as Co-Founder to boost OpenFi’s SalesTalkAI, a tool which generates human conversations over WhatsApp, email, and socials without having to hire more humans. 

Votsis previously served as Managing Director EMEA at IOVOX, a market-leading call analytics and AI provider that powers large marketplaces such as Auto Trader, Zoopla and Idealista.

Joining as a founding team member in 2009, Christos assisted in building the company from an early-stage tech start up to the multinational business it is today, going on a journey from initial VC funding from Octopus Ventures, all the way through to expansion, opening multiple offices in America, Australia and Europe and acquiring competitor businesses. 

Now he is ready to take on the challenge of helping OpenFi grow its natural language conversational AI, which filters, qualifies and nurtures leads, escalating those ripe for closing to their human coworkers. 

OpenFi recently closed a £500k pre-seed funding round led by Bijan Morvaridi with additional investments from Fortune Green Capital Ltd and Foundation Ventures Ltd.

On chatbots and conversational AI

The words chatbot and AI have been in the public sphere for nearly a decade now, sometimes used, inaccurately, as interchangeable terms. 

What is the difference between them? For OpenFi, the key is flexibility. 

While the static nature of a chatbot requires a rigid conversation, conversational AI brings a genuine human-like conversation to the table. 

Ultimately, the challenge is in turning data into a flow that feels human. 

Not an easy task, one might say, but some companies like OpenFi are solving the riddle, especially when it comes to generating sales.  

Why is this important? Only 3% of leads generated from performance marketing convert, wasting valuable marketing dollars and losing potential customers. 

However, businesses engaging customers through messaging solutions reported a 58% increase in leads and a 34-fold increase in ROI. 

What’s more, customers are 2.4 times more likely to stay when businesses are quick to solve their problems. 

The bigger picture here is that conversational AI can be a great ally for efficiently scaling sales and increasing profit, while human teams can focus more on high-value leads. 

The AI sales roadmap 

Though industry and platform agnostic, OpenFi’s initial customers are in financial services. 

Starting in an industry that demands the highest levels of security and professionalism has allowed OpenFi to showcase the consistent, responsible and safe delivery of its technology. 

Just nine months after its launch, OpenFi has already proven to be a valuable tool: during a three-month pilot with a mortgage brokerage, it tripled conversion and revenue. 

With the new addition of Christos Votsis to the founding team, the UK startup wants to champion the idea that using natural language conversational AI to qualify and nurture leads, escalating those ripe for closing to their human coworkers, is the right take on sales in the XXI century. 

This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company