Boris Valkov, a former AI engineer at Meta and contributor to the PyTorch machine learning library, has raised $14 million in seed funding for his startup Lace AI. The Mountain View-based company is building AI-powered software to help home service companies convert more customer calls into sales.
Valkov co-founded Lace in early 2022 alongside Stan Stoyanov, combining his deep tech experience from Meta and VMware with early lessons from working in his family’s grocery store. The duo discovered a huge opportunity in the home services sector, where businesses rely heavily on inbound phone calls for bookings and revenue.
How Lace AI Works
Lace AI’s revenue intelligence platform uses AI to analyze 100% of inbound customer service calls. Unlike many existing solutions that sample only a portion of calls, Lace scans every conversation to identify missed sales opportunities, such as leads that weren’t followed up or agents who failed to close.
“Every missed call is potentially lost revenue,” said Valkov. “Our goal is to recover that.”
With a SaaS business model, Lace charges a monthly fee per call center agent, making it scalable for both large and mid-sized service businesses.
1,000% ARR Growth in 2024
Though the company only began commercial operations in late 2023, Lace saw 1,000% annual recurring revenue growth in 2024. It currently serves over 100 companies including A1 Garage Door Service, Sage Home, Eco Plumbers, Matrix, and Lee’s Air.
Valkov emphasized that even a 1% improvement in call conversions can generate millions in new revenue. For example, a $300 million HVAC firm could gain $3 million from just a marginal improvement.
Total Funding Now at $19M
The latest $14 million seed round was led by Bek Ventures, with participation from Canvas Ventures, Horizon VC, Launchub, and notable angels like Snowflake co-founder Marcin Zukowski and Vivino founder Heini Zachariassen. It follows an earlier unreported $5 million pre-seed round.
Bek Ventures managing partner Mehmet Atici noted the opportunity:
“This team is unlocking real growth in industries that have been underserved by modern AI tools.”
Scaling Up
Lace currently employs 20 people and plans to triple its workforce with the new funding. While Valkov didn’t disclose the startup’s valuation, he confirmed it was an “up round.”
With customer service being a make-or-break moment for many businesses, Lace AI is positioning itself as a key player in transforming how traditional service providers leverage AI for growth.
