Novo Labs, a Dallas-based conversational AI provider for restaurants, has been acquired by SYNQ3 Restaurant Solutions, according to CIBC Cleary Gull. The investment bank advised SYNQ3, a Colorado-based technology company that provides automation, technology and other offsite solutions for restaurants.

Novo Labs, founded in 2017 by Clinton Coleman and Jeff Loukas, transforms voice interactions into digital transactions that can be personalized and optimized.

In 2019, Novo Labs was backed by Austin VC Silverton Partners as Coleman and Loukas expanded their conversational commerce service to make restaurant ordering easier and smarter. Silverton led the startup’s $ 2 million funding round. With the funding, Roger Chen of Silverton joined the company’s board of directors.

Ordering over the phone and ordering online is a challenge for traditional restaurants that operate on a low margin, Chen explained at the time. Using the latest advances in machine learning, Novo Labs has offered a voice command service to large restaurant chains at a fraction of the cost of alternatives.

Novo Labs co-founder and CEO Coleman, who presented at Venture Dallas 2020 last summer, said the service is not just a chatbot: the startup’s proprietary natural language processing stack manages the “conditions. of the real world ”of the way people speak when placing orders. .

The co-founder said Novo Lab’s technology stack “is more precise, scalable and conversational than anything out there.”

Coleman said the startup has helped customers “dramatically increase” their phone order volumes and expanded to other voice channels during the pandemic. In his Venture Dallas pitch, the co-founder said Novo Labs has become the leader in phone order automation. So far in 2020, the startup’s services had more than 2 million fully automated voice interactions for more than 1,000 locations, he noted in September.

SYNQ3 started over ten years ago and has grown to become the world’s leading call center, handling over $ 1 billion in sales for its partner brands. In 2014, the company set itself the goal of becoming “the world’s leading restaurant innovation company”. But it’s a new world now: the company calls it “restaurant world 3.0”. The way restaurants do business will change dramatically, according to the company.

SYNQ3 wants to use technology to bring personalization and depth to the customer relationship, according to the SYNQ3 website.

From now on, Novo Labs will be part of this load along with SYNQ3.

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