Cekura, an eight-month-old startup, has successfully raised a $2.4 million seed round led by Y Combinator to refine AI voice agents.
The funding round also saw participation from Flex Capital, Hike Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Decacorn, and angel investors such as Kulveer Taggar, Chris Smoak, Ooshma Garg, Richard Aberman, and JJ Fliegelman.
Previously known as Vocera, Cekura rebranded in March to reflect its mission of creating secure and reliable AI solutions. Founded by IIT Bombay alumni Sidhant Kabra, Tarush Agarwal, and Shashij Gupta—all in their twenties—the startup currently has a team of seven employees and plans to onboard three more next month.
According to Kabra, the team began their venture in the healthcare AI space. They faced significant challenges related to quality assurance (QA), with manual fixes taking hours. This spurred the development of Cekura’s technology, which uses AI to simulate conversations and test for edge-case scenarios, ensuring voice agents are ready to handle real-world interactions.
“The customers will interrupt you, the customers will be toxic, the customers will try to jailbreak you, the customers will operate out of bias,” Kabra explained. “You need to really stress test your agents before you go live.”
Beyond initial testing, Cekura also detects issues post-deployment and adds features, allowing the AI agents to expand their functionalities over time. While the company primarily focuses on voice agents (accounting for 90% of its business), it also develops AI chat agents.
Cekura operates using a subscription-based pricing model for startups, starting at $1,000 per month, along with tailored enterprise solutions. The startup has attracted around 70 clientele across diverse industries, including highly regulated sectors like healthcare and financial services, which demand high levels of reliability. Notable clients include AI mortgage servicer Kastle and Sandra, an AI receptionist for car dealerships.
Amid the growing adoption of AI in call centers, Kabra sees immense potential for Cekura. Competing with other prominent players like Coval and Hamming, Cekura aims to carve out its space in a rapidly expanding AI landscape.
For more information visit www.cekura.ai.
