TLDR: Ukrainian startup MaiCall is revolutionizing the debt collection industry with its B2B SaaS platform, deploying advanced voice AI agents to automate customer outreach. The company aims to replace traditional call centers, offering an ethical, efficient, and multi-channel solution for debt management, significantly reducing operational costs for businesses while maintaining humane interactions.
Kyiv, Ukraine – In a significant stride towards modernizing customer service and debt management, Ukrainian startup MaiCall is leveraging artificial intelligence to fundamentally transform how businesses handle overdue accounts. The company’s innovative B2B SaaS platform deploys sophisticated voice AI agents, effectively replacing traditional call center functions and streamlining customer outreach in collection departments.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Vadym Bortnyk (CEO) and fintech expert Oleksandr Serhunin (CTO), MaiCall emerged from a shared vision to automate debt collection. Bortnyk, with extensive experience in developing collection departments across LATAM and Asia, including overseeing a 170-member call center in Mexico and Sri Lanka, recognized the inefficiencies of conventional methods. A pivotal meeting in November 2024, where they discussed advancements in AI, solidified their decision to pursue an AI-driven solution for debt collection. As Bortnyk states, “Recognising the vast potential, we saw that current technologies can entirely fulfil the demand for voice and text communications, allowing an AI collection agency to build an ethical and effective client interaction process, resulting in value for all parties.”
Many businesses currently hesitate to engage traditional collection agencies due to trust concerns, despite needing effective solutions for overdue accounts. MaiCall addresses this by establishing debt collection as an ethical process, emphasizing respect, transparency, empathy, and technological innovation. Upon integrating MaiCall’s service, companies initially deploy trained AI phone agents, with plans for a strategic rollout of additional channels including SMS, email, WhatsApp, a Copilot for managers, and human agents for complex cases.
MaiCall’s platform is built on three core components: highly skilled voice AI agents trained in negotiation, a comprehensive debt portfolio management platform that crafts debtor interaction strategies and tailored debt resolution products, and a debtor portal for self-management of debt and communication. Vadym Bortnyk highlights the efficiency of their system, noting, “The voice AI agent handles up to 80% of customer communication within debt collection departments, yet it keeps conversations humane and achieves impressive results.” These AI agents are available 24/7, operate across multiple channels, detect emotional cues to adapt their tone, and can negotiate and finalize debt settlement agreements.
The startup has already secured five clients and is running four pilot programs, demonstrating significant impact. For instance, international fintech company SpaceCrew (OnCredit) is set to process 100,000 calls per month using MaiCall’s solution, eliminating the need for 120 new employees and projecting an annual saving of $480,000. Their projected annual budget for voice AI to service their entire client base is $600,000. Similarly, the transportation platform inDrive integrated MaiCall, avoiding the necessity of hiring 20 new operators and targeting 34,000 calls monthly, which is expected to yield annual savings of $120,000.
With the global debt collection market valued at $30.2 billion in 2023, and $15 billion attributed to in-house solutions, MaiCall is strategically positioning itself to lead this niche. The company operates on a B2B SaaS subscription model, charging $500 monthly per module, plus a per-minute fee for voice AI usage, typically around $0.12 per minute, varying by volume and country. Implementation and integration costs start at $5,000. Initial product promotion involved LinkedIn advertisements in key markets like Mexico, the Netherlands, and the USA, with early clients secured through the founders’ extensive personal networks in the fintech and collection sectors.
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To date, the founders have personally invested approximately $70,000 into the project, primarily for development. MaiCall’s ambitious future plans include attracting $500,000 in pre-seed investments, aiming to achieve an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $1 million, and scaling operations across LATAM and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The company also plans to expand into new sectors such as microfinance, medical debt, and utilities. The current team of nine, including founders, engineers, and specialists, anticipates expansion with hires for Sales Development Representative, marketing, three new engineers, and a security specialist.
