Intercom, Inc.
American software company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Intercom, Inc. is a software company that provides an AI-driven customer service and messaging platform.[2][3] It is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Chicago, Dublin, Sydney and London.
- Eoghan McCabe
- Des Traynor
- Ciaran Lee
- David Barrett
| |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Enterprise software |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Key people |
|
| Revenue |  US$200 million (2021) |
Number of employees | 1,013 (2022)[1] |
| Website | intercom |
History
Intercom was founded in California in 2011 by four Irish designers and engineers, Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, Ciaran Lee, and David Barrett.[4] The founders had previously operated a software design consultancy named Contrast, which created the bug tracking tool called Exceptional. In 2011, Exceptional was sold to Rackspace, and the proceeds were used to establish Intercom.[5]
In 2012, Intercom received an investment from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone,[6] followed by seed funding from investors including David Sacks, Huddle founder Andy McLoughlin, Dan Martell, 500 Global (previously 500 Startups), and Digital Garage.[7][8]
In March 2013, Intercom announced a $6 million Series A round led by Social Capital.[9] In January 2014, it received a $23 million Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners.[10] Intercom also received a $50 million Series C-1 funding led by Index Ventures.[11][12]
In 2017, Intercom offered to cover legal fees for individuals affected by a proposed U.S. travel ban who wished to relocate to Ireland.[13]
In 2018, Intercom announced a $125 million Series D round led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Google Ventures.[14]
In 2019, allegations of inappropriate conduct were made against co-founder Eoghan McCabe.[15] The company stated that both internal and external investigations cleared him of wrongdoing.[16][17] On July 1, 2020, Karen Peacock was appointed chief executive officer.[18] In July 2021, co-founder and then-chief technology officer Ciarán Lee departed the company. The company's board reappointed McCabe as CEO in October 2022.[17][19]
In 2023, Intercom Intercom scaled back some internal programs and public support for social causes. Subsequently, McCabe's activity on Twitter drew internal criticism from staff; he addressed the concerns in a company-wide meeting.[20] In the same year, Intercom also ended support for the Twitter API support citing price changes.[21]
In 2024, Intercom announced a $94 million investment in AI research and development.[3]
Products
Intercom's platform integrates live chat, chatbot automation, a help desk ticketing system, and a customer data platform.[22] It allows businesses to add a chat interface to websites and mobile apps.[22] The system includes a unified team inbox, knowledge base management, and tools for targeted in-app and email messages.[3]
In 2017, Intercom introduced a chatbot named Operator.[23] In 2022, the company rebuilt its Inbox and launched Surveys, for customer feedback, and Switch, which allows users to move from a phone call to a text chat.[24]
In 2023, Intercom introduced Fin, an AI chatbot powered by large language models.[2][25] Initially using OpenAI's GPT-4, Fin was designed to answer customer questions by referencing a company's help center content.[26] By late 2023, Intercom reported that the bot could resolve nearly 50% of incoming queries automatically.[26]
In 2024, Intercom released Fin 2, which uses Anthropic's Claude model.[26] Fin 2 includes the ability to perform actions for customers in addition to answering questions. Intercom has integrated other AI features, such as conversation summaries, as part of its AI-first focus.[2][27]