Remote customer service "RURA" operation, seed procurement of about 180 million yen —— JAFCO, HIRAC FUND, VOYAGE V

Time Leap, which develops and operates the remote customer service service "RURA", announced on the 1st that it has raised about 180 million yen in a seed round. JAFCO Group (TSE: 8595), HIRAC FUND, and VOYAGE VENTURES participated in this round.

Time Leap was founded in 2019 by Ryosuke Mochizuki, who was a founding member of Robot Dot Info and served as Director and Media Editor-in-Chief at Robot Start, which sold the company. We are developing a remote customer service that allows online reception for hotels, commercial facilities, shared offices, retailers, etc. It is possible to provide not only the system but also the corresponding people, and it is characterized by being able to handle multiple locations with a small number of people.

For example, automatic check-in machines have been introduced at the front desk of business hotels to save labor. may not contribute to By establishing a system that can provide explanations through RURA, it will be possible to see multiple sites with a small number of people regardless of the busyness of the time, and the lowest hourly wage per site can be covered from 350 yen.

The advantage of RURA is not only cost. Since the system terminal is equipped with a motion detection function, it is possible not only to be called by a customer, but also to actively approach the operator through RURA when a customer approaches. At home centers, etc., the number of employees who have knowledge of individual products is limited, so there are cases where RURA is installed at the storefront to enable customer support across multiple stores.

There are two menus, one that provides only the system and one that provides both the system and remote staff. Currently, there are many inquiries about the use of the system alone, but in the six months since the service started, we have received inquiries from more than 200 companies. (Mr. Mochizuki)

About 50 years have passed since call centers and BPO business types were born in the world. The birth of call centers later led to the creation of even more business types, including telemarketing and mail order, but they did not lead to anything that could replace traditional in-store interactions.

Time Leap has staff who act on behalf of user companies to respond to RURA, and it is possible to assign human resources according to customer needs. It may be possible to use gig workers depending on the type of business. It is interesting that they are creating a new economic/employment ecosystem as there are staff working across time zones, not only from Japan but also from Canada, the United States, and Australia.

In this field, startups such as Draper Nexus and DEEPCORE-backed UsideU, as well as telexistence-focused All Nippon Airways, have collaborated with Tokyu Department Stores and others to showcase remote shopping experiences. . In the future, Time Leap hopes to build a system that can comprehensively provide many in-store experiences by making it possible to link RURA with automatic payment machines.