They were joined in this round by current investors Peak and Curiosity. The company planned to use the investment to enter the German market and launch the first AI training centre for digital co-workers.

Founded just a year ago, Neople aimed to solve customer support challenges. Consumers demanded high-quality support, but support teams struggled with high workloads. Neople addressed this problem by offering a digital co-worker. Over 100 leading Dutch and German e-commerce businesses had already hired Neople's solution.

Neople intended to use the investment to expand internationally and build a new AI training centre. AI was not widely used in support roles yet, as it often delivered incomplete, incorrect, or poorly toned responses. This was significant in highly competitive markets. Neople's new training centre enabled senior staff to train AI colleagues so they could eventually provide the best customer service fully autonomously.

Hans de Penning, co-founder and CEO of Neople, explains: “We are on the verge of a shift to a new way of working with technology. Soon, AI colleagues with the right soft skills will automate all repetitive and time-consuming tasks exactly as instructed. This future collaboration is what we call 'Collegial AI.'

“Customer support teams are often the bottleneck of an e-commerce business, dealing with numerous cases, including those from annoyed or even rude customers. Collegial AI makes their jobs more enjoyable and allows them to focus on the edge cases. Thanks to the investment, we're launching an AI training center to train Neople to reply autonomously. We are also receiving positive signals from businesses outside the Netherlands. It's about time we expand Neople's presence globally.”

With pan-European investors Newion and Simon Capital on board, Neople has strong partners for its next growth phase and international expansion. The company will be opening a second office in Berlin in September, providing better access to grow their German client base.

Dorus Olgers, Principal at Newion, explains: “We are impressed by Neople's humanised approach on AI, driven by deep vertical understanding of the markets they serve. This has resulted in a product their customers love, which has disrupted their traditional approach on customer support.”