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, marking 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, but has since shifted to building AI agents that handle customer queries without human help. The company says its software now runs customer conversations for more than 500 businesses in the UK and South Africa, spanning automotive, retail, insurance, finance and education sectors. Cue handles over 500 million messages and conversations each year, and 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 plans to use the new funding for engineering, including voice infrastructure and security, as well as sales and marketing in the UK and South Africa, and entering new markets.