This founder says AI won’t replace your plumber, it’ll just answer their phone
Avoca founder Apurva Shrivastava says his $1 billion AI startup is not replacing technicians and tradespeople, but simply making sure their businesses never miss a call.
‘No AI wave is replacing the job of a technician, at least in the next five years,’ Avoca founder Apurva Shrivastava told Fortune, describing the growth moment behind his AI voice-agent startup for home service businesses.
Shrivastava, who grew up in Michigan watching his parents’ small business lose customers to missed calls, co-founded Avoca in 2022 with fellow MIT graduate Tyson Chen, whom he met during a poker night. Chen’s mother had run an acupuncture practice in Pennsylvania with the same problem.
The pair initially built an AI answering service for restaurants before pivoting to home service businesses after realising the far greater stakes involved — a missed call at a restaurant might cost a $30 order, while a missed call at a home service business could cost a $30,000–$40,000 HVAC install. In 2023, they built a product specifically for Rescue Air, which helped them land their first customers.
Avoca’s AI voice agents now serve plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians and roofers, picking up calls instantly, booking appointments directly into a company’s calendar, and following up on old unsigned quotes. According to Fortune, the company has raised more than $125 million over the last couple of years, valuing it at $1 billion.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/by Vronmikah2024
Leave a Reply