Don’t we all wish we had a friendly pal to give us advice or help us with anything and everything 24 hours a day? The unanimous positive answer to this question (yes, I defy you to find someone who would say no!) explains the surge in popularity of chatbots this past year. Defined as a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, mostly over the internet, chatbots are now used to enhance customer service, automatize part of a business, or assist customers with their daily inquiries. In 2018, 52% of businesses have already planned to integrate a chatbot into their website, and 39% of people are sure that having a chatbot will actually revolutionize their business. At STATION F, we have numerous startups working on B2B or B2C chatbots, and we decided to test out a couple of them for you!
Here are the STATION F chatbots that we’ve reviewed:
1. Jam
Facebook Startup Garage
Jam is the first media on messenger designed for millennials. Their chatbot matches their mission statement, “Never the same day twice”, by everyday sending messages to subscribers on messenger about a multitude of different things, including quizzes, music playlists, videos, fun facts, jokes, challenges, and more.
Jam’s messages are customizable, meaning you can express interest in a type of message and it will send you that type of message everyday (for exemple, receive the daily poll question every day at noon). The chatbot is overall friendly and playful, and most importantly helpful in spicing up your daily routine.
Jam is the number one french chatbot with over 400k users (100k daily), and they have raised 1.3M€.
Check it out here & on Messenger!
If Buzzfeed & Siri had a child on Messenger
2. Refund My Ticket
Founders Program
This startup helps travelers get a compensation when their flights are delayed or cancelled. They have developed a chatbot for their clients, in order for them to obtain answers to their questions in a time-efficient way. Their chatbot, named Walt’air, can be used on their website or Twitter, or via Facebook Messenger.
Walt’air is extremely reactive, answering messages in a matter of micro-seconds, and gives anyone struggling with flight delays, overbooking, or cancelling, pertinent advice on how to get compensated.
You can meet Walt’air on their website:
So next time you lose 3 hours of vacation because of a delayed flight, you know who you can complain to 😉
3. Matcha
Founders Program
Matcha is a startup that develops data and wine-advice technologies for the wine industry.
As sommelier consultants and wine experts, Thomas and Benoit, the founders of Matcha, realized that their families and friends often asked for their advice when choosing wine. They also figured out that many wine distributors were very eager to find a solution that offered their customers custom and quality advice.
They decided together to mix wine expertise with AI to create Matcha in 2016. In 2017, the company won the Concours d’Innovation Numérique.
Their bot, named Magnum, can answer any wine purchase question, just as any good wine advisor would do in a wine cellar shop or in a restaurant. For example, if you’re looking to offer a wine bottle as a gift, you can tell Magnum your budget and whether you want something safe or original, and Magnum will give you 3 recommendations, all in a cute and friendly tone.
You can meet Magnum on Messenger :
See, no need to serial-call your friends at the grocery store before a big date!
4. Sommelier du Parfum
Ponts Alliance
This startup provides an ML-powered personal shopper dedicated to fragrances. Any user can get specific perfume recommendations based on their specific tastes, and other criteria, such as the context or season they’ll wear the perfume. The point of entry of the application is a Messenger conversation but the full experience is embedded in a webview.
With a team of 6 people, this startup is supported by BPIFrance (Bourse FrenchTech & Prêt d’amorçage) & are national laureate of PEPITE 2017.
This chatbot will not only ask you about perfumes and fragrances you like, but also those that you dislike, and give you endless recommendations according to your input, all in an esthetically pleasing way.
You can meet their chatbot on Messenger:
Here’s a way to save precious shopping time, and having to ask sephora personel for coffee beans.
5. Clevy
ADNxIFM
Clevy is a Saas platform that lets companies easily create and maintain corporate chatbots that answer employees’ frequently asked questions (concerning HR, helpdesk or more specific subjects). Clevy’s main objective is to facilitate employee access to information pertinent on their work life, for example, how to get the right insurance, who to ask for time off, etc.
They’re a team of 12 people from all over the world (Colombia, US, Nethermands, France) and have already raised 500K€.
Take a look:
A nice way to avoid CCing the whole company to inquiry emails.
6. Vyte
Founders Program
Vyte helps professionals schedule their meetings much faster and more easily. Because their chatbot is integrated to Slack, teams can schedule their meetings right from Slack with specific team members or even an entire channel.
Our app and APIs let them schedule 1-on-1 appointments as well as group meetings easily.
Ask Vyte to schedule a meeting, chose the time that is most convenient for you and your co-workers, and confirm the meeting, all directly on Slack;
Vyte will be featured by Cisco at the VivaTech event.
Take a look & install it on a Slack workspace
It’s as easy as sending briqs to your coworkers ;)
7. Pinpo
Founders Program
Pinpo provides real estate agents/firms with 24/7 live concierge service via text message. They pre-qualify and handle leads on their behalf.
if you’re a customer looking for a home, by signing up to one of the programs they work with, for example BNP Paribas Immobilier, you receive text messages of their bot, matching you to real estate offers of the corresponding program that fit your need.
See for yourself:
8. Mojobots
ICM
Mojobots has developed a platform to deploy chatbots that deliver support for all types of experiences, such as pregnancy assistance, eye care, salesforce support, hydration guide, feedback on new product concepts in food, etc.
Sonia Litwin & Pascal Malengrez are co-founders, and have gathered a team of 9 designers & tech engineers to build the cloud platform. As of right now, they are bootstrapping their development until they can accelerate through investments.
9. Folhomee
Founders Program
Folhomee is a virtual assistant chatbot that helps people looking to buy real estate, by matching their needs with adequate real estate ads, to save them time in their search for a new home. Their chatbot is accessed through Facebook Messenger.
As of right now, Folhomee is focused on helping people find homes in Paris, but with a 12% growth rate of users per week, they’re already thinking about expanding their service to other big cities in France.
With a very fast response rate, Folhomee will ask questions like what neighborhoods interest you, what surface you want, if you need an elevator, what is the minimum floor number you would be ready to live on, etc. You can also ask Folhomee advice about getting a loan or making renovations.
Check it out for yourself:
Because we all hate the hassle of searching for a new place as much as Joffrey Baratheon (Ok… maybe not that much)!
10. Botmind
Zendesk
Botmind is a SaaS platform that automates customer service by using AI. Their hybrid chatbot can operate within Zendesk chat, Intercom, Dimelo and other live chat tools.
They currently work for companies in banking (BNP Paribas International Hackathon winner), insurance, e-commerce (La Redoute, Artsper), media (Webedia) and telecom (Prixtel).
Which chatbot will you try out first? Tell us in the comments!