Brazilian develops proprietary AI for digital customer service and challenges industry giants with national technology

Jose Caodaglio decided to undertake at the age of 47, after a consolidated career as an executive in giants such as Oracle and SAP. Instead of following the traditional path of startups, he created ColmeIA, betting on the combination of technical experience and entrepreneurial daring. It was four years without income, three pivotages and numerous adjustments until we hit the model: a complete platform of digital service. “The round of investments happened, to the surprise of no one, literally when we no longer depended on it. But it had a huge importance, both for a careful validation of the market and to allow us to risk more and to aim for faster flights”.

The turn came when he realized that, despite the growth of digital service tools, the user experience was inefficient. “Meven with large platforms, the customer was not well served. He realized that simple errors happened, which I could solve. I understood, thus, that I could solve this and deliver more than the competition. An example that I like to use is the car with air conditioning. Nobody realizes that he needs it until he has an air conditioning in the vehicle. I saw in this a clear opportunity: to do better, in our way, with intelligent technology thought from the root”, he explains.

This is how the modular AI of ColmeIA emerged. Jose simplifies the way the company works with the logic of a medical care “No one expects that a doctor can cover all disciplines of medicine, because it would not be efficient in any of them. But it was what, for some reason, the market expects of its AIs. Increasingly more information, which means less and less efficiency. So we created a multi-agent system with different specialized profiles, and we are the only ones who have this model of orchestration.”

With this model, the company reached scale: there were 129 thousand calls in 2021, 995 thousand in 2022, 7.5 million in 2023 and more than 10 million in 2024. In 2025, there are already more than 10 million in the first half alone. All this with a team of about 85 employees and a single financial contribution, of R$ 25 million.

ColmeIA serves companies from various sectors, such as health, franchises, banks, financial institutions and retail. Hospitals, clinic networks, franchisors and operators already use the company's AI for scheduling appointments, marking exams, issuing tickets and automated consultations. Everything via WhatsApp, with integration to ERPs and CRMs. One of the cases of the company, is Banco Mercantil, a national reference when it comes to transforming a channel into business in Brazil.

To bolster his confidence in the technology itself, Jose launched the ColmeIA Challenge: any company can bring a competitor to a 30-day pilot. If the competitor has better performance, the customer closes with him. If the HiveIA wins, it closes the contract. The company still banks the cost of the pilot, provided that the customer hires who has better results. My desire with this was based on an experience I had. The idea is that the players compete with each other and show the reasons that companies should close deals with their suppliers. This is how we prove, in practice, the efficiency of what we built”, he says.

The present and the future

Currently, ColmeIA is in version 5.0 of its platform and has launched new modules aimed at Agents, performance marketing, CRM, voice service and digital payments. The vision is ambitious: to become the largest technology company in Latin America, without relying on large international funds, but with real innovation, measurable result and a highly specialized team.“We have the courage to expose our platform against any national or international player, provided the demand is sophisticated. The more digital services your company needs, the greater the gain ColmeIA can deliver”.

“A journey was long, intense and personal. Undertaking with almost 50 years, after a stable life, requires more than courage. It requires believing in your idea and resilience before the no. Today, I look back and see that every night in clear was worth it. We created something from scratch, just ours. And that changes the lives of millions of companies and people”, concludes Jose.