South Africa’s Cue raises $5 million to expand its  AI service agents

Cue, a customer service software company, has raised R82 million ($5 million) to grow its AI customer service platform and expand into new markets.

The funding round was co-led by Knife Capital with FAM Investments. It is the largest raise yet for Cue, following its $500,000 pre-seed and $2m seed rounds in 2023 and 2024, respectively. 

Cue started out helping companies manage customer chats on WhatsApp and other messaging apps. It has since shifted its focus to building AI agents that can handle customer queries from start to finish without human help.

Read also: Adyen acquires Orb to provide billing software for enterprises

The company says its software now runs customer conversations for more than 500 businesses in the UK and South Africa. These span the automotive, retail, insurance, finance and education sectors. Cue handles over 500 million messages and conversations each year. Its annual recurring revenue grew by more than 160% in the last financial year.

Cue’s current AI agents already resolve more than 60% of customer conversations on their own. The company is building a second generation of agents that will go further, handling tasks such as checking order status, booking appointments, qualifying sales leads, adding leads to CRM systems, and sending payment links. When a human agent is needed, the AI hands off the conversation, along with full context, through Cue’s ticketing desk.

“We’re at an inflection point for AI in customer service, and we see more businesses starting to realise that they need a unified platform to succeed, not a patchwork of point solutions,” Cue CEO Richard Nischk said in a statement.

Cue plans to use the new funding for engineering, including voice infrastructure and security. It will also spend on sales and marketing in the UK and South Africa, as well as on entering new markets.

Last updated: July 15, 2026