ClearFeed uses AI to rein in the chaos on Slack

Enterprises across the world depend on collaboration tools such as Slack for both internal communication and customer interactions. However, despite their widespread use, keeping track of important messages within these platforms can be a daunting task. Critical messages often go unnoticed, and information gets buried within the platform's communication channels.    

San Francisco-based ClearFeedsays it offers solutions to this problem. 

Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the platform streamlines service desks on Slack and converts them into a single queue of requests. This enables businesses to streamline their operations.

“Our objective is to improve collaboration using chat tools, which are now the primary mode of communication, which includes both personal apps like WhatsApp and professional platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Chat. The abundance of information can make it challenging to prioritise tasks and follow up on important matters,” Joydeep Sen Sarma, Co-founder and CEO of ClearFeed, says. 

Although ClearFeed offers solutions for Microsoft Teams, it's currently in Beta. 

ClearFeed is Joydeep’s second venture. His drive to build a communication platform came from his experience managing a large team. 

The startup was a part of Tech30 at TechSparks 2023, YourStory’s flagship event. 

“Techsparks is India's premier startup event. At ClearFeed, we were honoured to be selected in the Tech30. The chance to pitch to an elite audience in the startup landscape, meeting an inspirational set of fellow founders and networking with some of the top investors in the region was an unforgettable experience,” the co-founder says. 

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Streamlining collaboration

ClearFeed was founded in September 2021 by Ankit Jain, Joydeep, and Lalit Indoria.

Joydeep was an early Facebook engineer who founded Apache Hive, a data warehouse software project built on top of Apache Hadoop. He also served as the co-founder and CTO of SaaS firm Qubole, which grew from zero to more than $50 million in ARR during his tenure.

In 2020, Qubole was acquired by Idera, a Houston-based marketer of database design and management tools.  

According to Joydeep, ClearFeed transforms company Slack channels into streamlined helpdesks. 

“Through ClearFeed, service teams promptly address customer and employee chat requests while adhering to service level agreements (SLAs). It converts chat conversations into support tickets and enables teams to tackle issues across various tools,” says Joydeep. 

With features like triage channels, service metrics, automated responses, and integration with Zendesk, FreshDesk, Salesforce, Jira, GitHub, and HubSpot, ClearFeed enables the delivery of accountable customer and employee support, all directly within Slack. It helps managers understand overall load, service metrics, and plan capacity. 

AI-powered helpdesk

ClearFeed has integrated OpenAI's most advanced system GPT-4 to index product documentation, knowledge bases, and confluence wikis, which are commonly used by companies to maintain internal documentation. This integration automatically generates responses to user queries, aiding agents in resolving issues efficiently. 

In initial trials, over 30% of customer queries were automatically resolved through ClearFeed's GPT-Powered Answering system, the startup says.

Since early 2023, ClearFeed’s revenue has grown by 10X. 

The company has 25 employees. While the headquarters is in San Francisco, ClearFeed has remote contractors from many regions.

In the previous quarter alone, ClearFeed says its solutions were adopted by more than 100 global organisations, including industry leaders like Atlan Data, Last9, Sprinto, and Plum Insurance. The platform is now used by over 10,000 users worldwide.

“We have developed an automated answering system to address a common issue in chat communication where people frequently ask questions without conducting prior research. Our customers expressed a desire for a solution that could automatically answer questions using their documentation and knowledge bases,” the co-founder says.

“Over the past six to eight months, we have dedicated efforts to this feature, and it is currently in use by a significant number of users. In essence, AI is seamlessly integrated into our product in various capacities,” Joydeep adds. 

Over the next three years, ClearFeed’s strategic goals involve customer acquisition through digital marketing and remote sales, along with the expansion of product to include Microsoft Teams and additional enterprise tools like Salesforce.

Delivering employee support 

Joydeep says that the platform has gained significant popularity for one of their key use cases, which involves assisting customers via Slack. “Many modern companies, especially those operating in the SaaS sector, often initiate their customer support by creating Slack channels for direct communication rather than setting up traditional support ticket forums.”

ClearFeed raised $2.7 million in its seed funding round, led by Peak XV Partners’s Surge, along with participation from 8VCand other angel investors.

Some of its competitors include Halp and Unito. 

Joydeep says, “We currently have a runway of approximately two years, and our goal is to achieve either break-even profitability within that time frame or to experience significant growth that would position us to secure the next round of funding.”