He noticed every missed call was a lost job, now his AI startup is worth $1 billion

Apurva Shrivastava grew up in Michigan, where his parents ran a small business. As a teenager helping them, he noticed how every missed call was a job walking out the door — the customer would simply call someone else.

Shrivastava studied computer science at MIT. In 2022, he co-founded Avoca with Tyson Chen, a fellow MIT graduate he met during a poker night. Chen’s mother ran an acupuncture practice in Pennsylvania, and he too had grown up understanding what a missed call meant for a family business.

The pair set out to build an AI answering service, initially for restaurants, before realising the bigger opportunity lay elsewhere. In 2023, they built a product specifically for Rescue Air, a home service business, which helped them land their first customers. Avoca’s AI voice agents now serve plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians and roofers — what Shrivastava calls ‘the physical economy’ — picking up calls instantly, booking appointments directly into a company’s calendar, and following up on old unsigned quotes.

According to Fortune, Avoca has raised more than $125 million over the last couple of years, valuing the company at $1 billion — close to Rs 8,300 crore.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/by Vronmikah2024