Equal AI raises $30M to screen calls so Indians don’t have to

In India, the flood of daily phone calls—from spam and scams to legitimate inquiries—can be overwhelming for consumers. While tools like Truecaller and the government’s Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) system help identify callers, they often fall short in providing context. Addressing this gap, Equal AI has developed an innovative assistant that answers calls on behalf of users, gathering information and clarifying the reason for each call. Since its debut on Android last year, Equal AI has experienced rapid growth, boasting over a million monthly active users and 300,000 daily active users. The application not only screens incoming calls but also presents the reasons behind them in real-time. Users can respond with predefined messages like “Leave the delivery at the door” or “Hand it to the neighbor,” while the AI vocalizes these responses to the caller. Additionally, users can customize messages for the AI to relay. Equal AI recently announced it has raised $30 million in Series B funding, led by Prosus Ventures and Tomales Bay Capital, with contributions from Think Investments and Valiant Fund. Notable individual investors include Sameer Nigam, founder of Indian fintech giant PhonePe, and executives from Airtel, Meta, and CtrlS Datacenters. With this latest round, Equal AI's total funding has surpassed $42 million. The funding is structured in three tranches, allowing for different valuations at each stage based on performance milestones—a strategy that permits startups to market their highest valuation, even if most equity is sold at lower prices. While Equal AI has not disclosed its exact valuations, the company is focused on growth. Founded in 2022 by Keshav Reddy, whose family has ties to the Indian conglomerate GVK, Equal AI initially started as a data-sharing service for financial institutions. However, recognizing the challenge users face with numerous calls related to financial services or job opportunities, Reddy pivoted to create a call assistant as the first application. Currently, the app screens only unknown callers, but plans are underway to extend this functionality to known contacts as well. Future enhancements could enable the AI assistant to take proactive measures, such as sending text messages to delivery personnel or making outbound calls for appointment bookings. The startup is also working on an iOS version and aims to introduce a paid subscription model with additional features. Equal AI employs a combination of speech recognition technologies, ensuring support for diverse languages and dialects common in India, including the prevalent code-mixing phenomenon. Facing competition from major players like Google and Apple, along with established services like Truecaller, Equal AI is carving out its niche. Thiago Viana, co-head at Prosus Ventures, emphasized the startup's understanding of local contexts as a competitive advantage. He noted that if Equal AI successfully addresses specific use cases, it could quickly build user loyalty and expand into new areas. With a clear vision to avoid platform dependency, Equal AI focuses on its standalone app to provide enhanced call management solutions, positioning itself as a formidable player in the evolving landscape of AI-assisted communication.