What if small businesses could hire a receptionist who never sleeps, never forgets a client, and always picks up the phone? That’s the vision behind Beside, an 18-month-old voice AI startup that’s redefining how entrepreneurs and professionals handle calls. Emerging from stealth only this month, Beside has already raised $32 million to scale what it calls an “AI receptionist” — a digital assistant built to ensure that no customer inquiry ever goes unanswered.
Founded by Maxime Germain in Paris, Beside aims to bring executive-level support to solo operators and small firms that can’t afford a full-time assistant. “Hiring Beside,” Germain told Fortune, “is like bringing on a Harvard-grad Chief of Staff with a perfect memory.”
Credits: Ascendants
How Beside Works: A Phone Assistant That Thinks Like a Human
Once connected to a business’s phone line through its app, Beside’s AI answers calls, remembers every customer, books appointments, and follows up automatically. Think of it as a front-desk assistant that lives in your phone — only faster, smarter, and always available.
The system’s strength lies in memory and context. Over time, it learns a company’s workflow, client preferences, and tone of service. Whether it’s a contractor on a job site or a clinic receptionist swamped with appointments, Beside ensures that every call is captured and every opportunity tracked.
This is particularly crucial for small firms where a missed call often means missed revenue. Studies show that most small businesses answer less than 40% of their calls, and four out of five callers who reach voicemail never try again. Beside’s AI receptionist directly addresses this pain point — by simply never letting a ring go unanswered.
Inside the $32 Million Bet
Beside’s funding story is as striking as its mission. The company recently closed a $20 million Series A led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Index Ventures and angel investors including Slack founder Stewart Butterfield. That round follows a $10.5 million seed led by Index and $1.4 million in SAFE notes, bringing total funding to roughly $32 million.
The fresh capital will be used for product development, hiring, and expansion — particularly into European markets. EQT’s Kaushik Subramanian calls Beside’s model “a complete rethinking of how work gets done,” betting that automation and personalization can coexist in the next wave of business productivity tools.
From Stealth Mode to Millions of Calls a Month
Before its public launch, Beside spent 18 months in stealth, known internally as Project M1. In that time, it quietly built a customer base of 20,000 paying users, racked up $4 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), and saw remarkably high engagement — half of its users open the app 14 times a day, six days a week.
Beside’s system now handles millions of calls monthly, signaling not just technological robustness but a clear demand among small business owners eager to automate phone communication without losing the human touch.
A Consumer Approach in a B2B World
In an AI market crowded with enterprise-focused players, Beside stands out by going direct-to-user. Instead of selling to massive corporations, it caters to individual professionals — contractors, real estate agents, doctors, salons, churches, and even priests. What unites these users, Germain says, isn’t industry but attitude: “They care deeply about personal connection. The details of every conversation matter.”
This consumer-style product philosophy stems from the team’s background at X (formerly Twitter), Snap, and Jour, a mental health app Germain sold to Alan in 2021.
Rebuilding the Phone System from the Ground Up
Unlike many AI startups that layer intelligence over existing telecom systems, Beside has chosen the harder path — rebuilding the phone infrastructure itself. The company manages number provisioning, regulatory compliance, and carrier integration in-house, ensuring smooth, high-quality calls anywhere — even from a moving truck or a noisy job site.
In the long run, Germain envisions Beside evolving into a full mobile carrier with SIM-level integration, embedding AI directly into the phone network itself.
Credits: Zeeg
The Bigger Picture: Voice AI’s Next Frontier
The global voice AI market, worth $3.14 billion in 2024, is projected to soar to $47.5 billion by 2034. While giants like Amazon and Microsoft race to dominate enterprise automation, Beside’s bet is that the real revolution will happen at the bottom of the business pyramid — among the millions of small operators for whom every missed call matters.
In an era obsessed with flashy AI demos, Beside is quietly winning where work actually happens — on the other end of the phone.
