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Business Matters: Trump unveils ‘AI Action Plan’ – Global News

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DRUID AI raises $31 million Series C, appoints new CEO

DRUID AI, a Romanian-born technology company, today announced it has secured $31 million in Series C financing to advance the global expansion of its enterprise-ready agentic AI platform under the leadership of its new CEO Joseph Kim. The strategic investment, which will advance DRUID AI’s mission to empower companies to create, manage, and orchestrate conversational AI agents, was led by Cipio Partners, with participation from TQ Ventures, Karma Ventures, Smedvig, and Hoxton Ventures.
“This investment is both a testament to DRUID AI’s success and a catalyst to elevate businesses globally through the power of agentic AI,” said Kim. “Customer success is what it’s all about, and delivering real business outcomes requires understanding companies’ pain points and introducing innovations that help those customers address their complex challenges. That’s the DRUID AI way, and now we’re bringing it to the world through this new phase of global growth.”
Kim has more than two decades of operating executive experience in application, infrastructure, and security industries. Most recently, he was CEO of Sumo Logic. He serves on the boards of directors of SmartBear and Andela. In addition, he was a senior operating partner at private equity firm Francisco Partners, CPTO at Citrix, SolarWinds, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and chief architect at GE.
DRUID AI cofounder and Chief Operating Officer Andreea Plesea, who had been interim CEO, commented: “I am delighted Joseph is taking the reins as CEO to drive our next level of growth. His commitment to customer success and developing the exact solutions customers need is in total sync with the approach that has fueled our progress and positioned us to raise new funds. Joseph and the Series C set up DRUID AI and our clients for expanded innovation and impact.”
The appointment of Kim as CEO and the new funding come on the heels of DRUID AI earning a Challenger spot in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Conversational AI Platforms for 2025. This is just the latest development validating the maturity of DRUID AI’s platform and its readiness to deliver business results in a market that is experiencing rapid advancement and adoption.
In 2024, DRUID AI grew ARR 2.7x year-over-year. Its award-winning platform has powered more than 1 billion conversations across thousands of agents. In addition, the DRUID AI global partner ecosystem has attracted industry giants Microsoft, Genpact, Cognizant, and Accenture.
The founder of Druid AI, Liviu Dragan, had passed away unexpectedly in May 2025.
DRUID AI is trusted by more than 300 global clients across banking, financial services, government, healthcare, higher education, manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications. Leading organizations such as AXA Insurance, Carrefour, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Georgia Southern University, Kmart Australia, Liberty Global Group, MatrixCare, National Health Service, and Orange Auchan have adopted DRUID AI to redefine the way they operate.
Companies have embraced DRUID AI to help teams accelerate digital operations, reduce the complexity of day-to-day work, enhance user experience, and maximize technology ROI. Powered by advanced agentic AI and driven by the DRUID Conductor, its core orchestration engine, the DRUID platform enables businesses to effortlessly deploy AI agents and intelligent apps that streamline processes, integrate seamlessly with existing systems, and fulfill complex requests efficiently. DRUID AI’s end-to-end platform delivers 98% first response accuracy.
Business
11 companies in Czechia reshaping business with AI

In their daily work, JsmeUspesni (Czech for “we are successful”) uses AI to optimize SEO, automate PPC campaigns, and create high-performing content for clients, no matter whether they are targeting individuals or businesses. One client grew from 10 to 340 daily website visitors thanks to AI, according to the digital marketing agency’s founder, Jan Vavřička. AI allows the delivery of smarter marketing strategies with real impact, leading to faster growth, better targeting, and lower costs.
Business
WhatsApp expands business tools in India with payments, AI support and citizen services

WhatsApp hosted its second annual Business Summit in Mumbai on 16 September, unveiling a suite of new features designed to deepen business–customer engagement, simplify transactions, and boost discoverability. The announcements also underscored how the platform is increasingly being used by Indian state governments to deliver citizen services at scale.
Payments integrated into WhatsApp Business
Small businesses can now accept secure payments directly within the WhatsApp Business app. Merchants will be able to generate QR codes in a single tap, enabling customers to complete transactions via their preferred payment methods. Meta said the feature is intended to streamline the checkout process and shorten sales cycles.
In-app calling and AI-powered support
WhatsApp is rolling out in-app calling, allowing customers to place calls to larger businesses or receive them when requested. Future updates are expected to include voice messages and video calls, with potential use cases spanning industries such as telehealth. Businesses are also piloting Business AI, a tool that uses voice calling to deliver automated customer support at scale.
Centralised campaign management
Through Meta’s Ads Manager, businesses will now be able to manage campaigns across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram in one place. The platform said the integration would allow companies to repurpose creatives, budgets and workflows while AI-driven optimisation tools such as Advantage+ improve campaign performance across channels.
Discoverability via Status and Channels
WhatsApp is expanding discoverability features within the Updates tab, which is used by 1.5 billion people globally. Businesses and creators will be able to run ads in Status, promote channels and offer subscriptions. Early adopters include Maruti Suzuki, Air India and Flipkart. WhatsApp stressed that these updates will remain separate from personal chats and inboxes and will roll out gradually.
Flexibility for small enterprises
To give small businesses more room to scale, WhatsApp now allows the Business App and Business Platform to be used simultaneously with the same phone number. This will enable firms to handle large message volumes through the API while continuing everyday conversations via the app.
Citizen services on WhatsApp
Meta highlighted that 91% of online adults in India already interact with businesses weekly on WhatsApp. The company is also extending partnerships with state governments. In Andhra Pradesh, for instance, the “Mana Mitra” chatbot delivers over 700 multilingual services and is already being used by more than 4 million citizens. Odisha, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are among other states offering essential services through the platform.
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