Meet 16 startups taking AI innovation to the next level with Twilio

They say a sequel is never as good as the original, but Twilio's AI Startup Searchlight 2.0 brought major The Empire Strikes Back vibes to the award program's sophomore season as it celebrated 16 honorees from across the global startup community, selected from over 500 applicants.

The program highlights the imagination and ingenuity of Twilio's vibrant founder ecosystem, exceptional entrepreneurs, and standout startups at the intersection of communications and technology innovation. Eligible businesses had to have raised less than $200 million, have a product or demo in market, and use LLMs or generative AI on Twilio channels.  

These honorees showcase how AI-powered solutions married with Twilio can solve business challenges and revolutionize customer interactions across diverse industries and regions.

11x   

11x automates entire workflows powered by a fleet of AI digital workers. 11x uses AI in conjunction with Twilio's voice, IVR, and SIP Trunking as the backbone for their initial products: "Alice," an outbound email and LinkedIn sales representative, and "Jordan," a fully autonomous AI phone representative.

Alpharun

Alpharun is an AI phone interview platform that accelerates screening for high-volume hiring teams by integrating Twilio's messaging, voice, IVR, and SIP Trunking. By enabling candidates to showcase their skills and experience in AI-driven interviews, it fosters a more meritocratic hiring process and saves recruiters time.

Althea Health

Althea Health is a voice AI agent designed to transform patient engagement by automating critical healthcare tasks, from complex calls to care management and medication support. Althea handles repetitive processes more efficiently, reducing costs, and easing staff workload. Leveraging Twilio's SMS, Voice, and IVR capabilities, the company seamlessly integrates multiple communication channels to enable secure, automated, and personalized patient interactions.  

Appella AI

Appella AI offers hyper-personalized customer service solutions by leveraging Twilio's technology to adapt interactions in real time based on user preferences and company data. By integrating products like SMS, Voice, IVR, and 2FA, they ensure seamless, secure, multi-channel support that moves beyond static chatbots. Their goal is to create customer experiences that feel uniquely tailored and responsive at every touchpoint.

curaJOY 

curaJOY uses AI, machine learning, and scientific methods to improve family interactions and manage behaviors. Integrated into healthcare and education, it provides equitable, multilingual behavioral health support, including in underserved communities, through Twilio's SMS, Flex, and WhatsApp for scalable global communication.

Elaitra AI

Elaitra AI aims to improve cancer screening compliance rates mired at 60-70%, a significant factor in global mortality. Utilizing Twilio's SIP Trunking, IVR, and Voice APIs, their conversational AI encourages screenings. The company believes we can save 50,000 - 100,000 Americans annually by 2030 through full compliance.

Elythea

Elythea enables obstetricians to predict and prevent pregnancy complications, such as hemorrhage and eclampsia through machine learning. Leveraging Twilio's SMS, Voice, and Email API capabilities, Elythea's AI care managers connect high-risk pregnant women on Medicaid with personalized resources — like specialist care and transportatio — through text and phone calls, all at no cost.

Fiado App  

Fiado App leverages AI and non-traditional data to extend financial services to all communities. Alongside innovative credit assessments, the platform promotes financial literacy with gamified budgeting and micro-courses. Twilio's SMS, Flex, Segment, and WhatsApp enable real-time support and personalized, interactive experiences that empower users' financial growth. 

Frame AI  

Frame AI transforms 80% of unstructured customer data — emails, chats, and support call transcripts — into proactive insights seamlessly integrated into existing systems. Its STAG architecture uses GenAI for real-time streaming data intelligence. Leveraging Twilio's SMS, Flex Contact Center, Voice, IVR, SIP Trunking, and Segment, Frame AI helps teams anticipate needs, resolve issues early, and uncover growth opportunities. 

Goodcall AI  

Born out of Google's tech incubator, GoodCall is on a mission to build sales and service agents that every business can trust, delivering responsive voice AI solutions that set a new standard in customer service for in-house call centers. GoodCall boosts productivity and streamlines customer interactions, using Twilio's SMS, Voice, IVR, Email, and security tools to enhance multi-channel communication and reliability.  

GAIL   

Inspired to build "The Everything Workforce," GAIL is building AI employees and starting with Financial Services. With Twilio's SIP Trunking and IVR products, GAIL helps businesses reduce operational costs by alleviating burdensome daily tasks. In just a few months since launch, GAIL has already grown beyond North America into emerging markets like Latin America, where it already makes over a million weekly client calls.

meiti GmbH  

meiti, an AI communication assistant, revolutionizes customer interactions for home service businesses, enhancing efficiency with a three-minute setup. It delivers enterprise-level, multi-channel support through Twilio's SMS, Voice, IVR, SIP Trunking, and WhatsApp capabilities, simplifying communication challenges for small businesses without technical complexities.  

Paradox  

Paradox is on a mission to transform and streamline the job search through Olivia, a virtual recruiting assistant that takes away some of the tedious tasks of recruiting, enabling recruiters to spend more time building meaningful human connections with candidates. Leveraging Twilio's SMS capability, Paradox engages candidates through real-time conversations, making the job application process more efficient and impactful. 

Spoke Phone  

Spoke Phone empowers mobile teams with AI-driven communication tools, making business calls and messaging seamless across platforms. With the help of Twilio's SMS, Voice, IVR, SIP Trunking, and WhatsApp capabilities, Spoke Phone enhances customer interactions with minimal setup, reducing time and cost. The company's AI equips users with essential tools, shifting high-value interactions from contact centers to skilled professionals — redefining impactful communication.  

Storii  

Storii aims to preserve life stories through a platform that records and transcribes stories via phone calls. Leveraging Twilio's SMS and Voice APIs as well as IVR and SIP Trunking, Storii is also exploring generating images and videos from transcripts to enrich users' life stories.  

Symbl.ai  

Symbl.ai focuses on transforming unstructured, real-time communication data into actionable insights. The company enables seamless integration of voice intelligence into applications, enhancing contact center operations and driving more meaningful customer interactions. With Twilio Flex, Voice, IVR, and SIP Trunking, Symbl.ai ensures reliable, multi-channel support to elevate customer engagement. 

Want to keep the AI momentum going? Check out Twilio AI Assistants, Twilio's platform to build customer-aware autonomous agents. 

This post was created by Twilio with Insider Studios.