Zambian AI startup Caantin is on a mission to transform the way businesses communicate with their customers. The company, launched in 2021, is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) voice agents to reduce the cost of making phone calls for businesses, making it a game-changer in the industry.

Traditionally, businesses have relied on large or outsourced call centers, or in-house support teams to handle customer communications. However, these methods come with significant overhead costs, hiring headaches, and natural limits on the number of calls that can be made in a day. Caantin's AI voice agents, on the other hand, can have conversations at scale, making them a more efficient and cost-effective solution.

According to Njavwa Mutambo, CEO and Co-founder of Caantin, "Businesses struggle to scale for a number of reasons, and when you peel into it, you end up with a communications issue—the cost of communicating. We help businesses communicate with customers in a way that is intelligent, contextual, and cost-effective." The startup's AI voice agents are designed to mimic human-like conversations, complete with intonations, pauses, and inadvertent interruptions, making them incredibly natural-sounding.

In a test of Caantin's AI voice bots, TechCabal found that the conversation felt remarkably natural, with the AI chatbot even able to understand and respond to accents and dialects in major African languages such as Igbo, Hausa, Swahili, and Yoruba. Mutambo claims that the startup has already helped businesses increase their efficiency, citing the example of Nigerian fintech Cowrywise, which was able to achieve 100,000 calls with just one employee using Caantin's technology.

Mutambo believes that voice AI will be the most dominant use case of AI in Africa, given the low smartphone penetration, inconsistent internet access, and high illiteracy rates in many regions. He argues that voice, rather than text or chat, will be the most practical interface for AI adoption at scale. Caantin is developing context-specific use cases that align with how enterprises operate on the continent, including designing voice agents that can drive collections, complete sales flows, and reduce the cost of customer support.

The startup generates revenue by charging per second for phone calls, operating much like a telecom provider. While the per-minute price may be higher than traditional call centers, Mutambo defends the pricing by pointing to the broader costs businesses typically incur to run large customer support operations. Caantin claims it is currently profitable and has raised an undisclosed round from Ventures Platform earlier this year.

Caantin's main competitors are traditional call centers and global players like YC-backed Bland AI. However, Caantin's focus on the African context, with its AI voice agents understanding local dialects, accents, and speech patterns, sets it apart from its competitors. The startup's plan to offer an analytics feature also puts it in direct competition with Moroccan AI startup ToumAI.

As Caantin continues to grow and expand its services, it's likely to disrupt the traditional call center industry. Mutambo predicts that BPOs will need to adapt or struggle to survive, and that Caantin's AI technology will ultimately make call centers obsolete. With its innovative approach to business communications, Caantin is poised to revolutionize the way businesses interact with their customers.