A Twilio, the customer engagement platform that powers real-time personalized experiences for today's leading brands, announces the winners of the 3rd annual AI Startup Searchlight Awards, during SIGNAL London 2025. Out of over 750 applications, Twilio selected 20 exceptional startups that exemplify how emerging technologies, combined with the Twilio platform, can transform industries. Among the winners, X are from LATAM companies, one of which is the Brazilian company, Mecanizou.
The Twilio AI Startup Searchlight Awards program recognizes startups that use the Twilio platform to create AI-powered experiences that drive exceptional customer engagement at scale. Awardees represent a wide range of industries, including customer support, e-commerce, financial services, healthcare, hospitality, insurance, and more, demonstrating the universal applicability of AI-powered communications. Winners were selected by a panel of judges composed of representatives from Twilio, Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI, and IDC.
“These 20 honorees demonstrate the growing number of AI startups choosing Twilio as the essential communication engine behind their innovation,” says Mark Simms, Twilio's Chief Technology Officer. “What makes this possible is Twilio's unique platform, which brings together three essential capabilities: multichannel communications, contextual data, and AI-powered orchestration, which transform every interaction into an engaging conversation. With these capabilities seamlessly integrated across the customer journey, we are empowering a new generation of developers to create incredible customer engagement experiences, something that was impossible just a few years ago.”
“What's striking about these startups is how they're making AI personal and useful in everyday interactions,” comments Olivia Moore, partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “They're leveraging trusted communication platforms that provide the foundation for global scale, so they can focus on innovation and user experience.”
Meet the honorees of the 2025 AI Startup Searchlight Awards
The 20 selected startups demonstrate the breadth of what's possible when developers are given the freedom to create amazing customer engagement experiences with the Twilio platform:
- Mechanized: digitizing the Brazilian auto parts market, valued at US$10 billion, with AI-powered commerce using Twilio's WhatsApp Business API and a custom Flex instance with AI Assistant, plus Segment for customer data, demonstrating Twilio's ability to meet customers on their preferred channels;
- AI Shift: bringing 24/7 intelligent voice agents to Japanese contact centers using Twilio Programmable Voice to provide a robust and scalable telecommunications infrastructure, demonstrating Twilio's global reach in more than 180 countries;
- CareForce AI: deploying the “Angelica” and “David” autonomous virtual assistants to schedule medical appointments in over 20 languages via Twilio Voice and Messaging, demonstrating intelligent engagement at scale with HIPAA-compliant communications;
- Cartesia AI: establishing new standards for ultra-realistic voice AI with pioneering State-Space Model architecture, with each line agent provisioned through Twilio's scalable Voice API platform and leveraging Elastic SIP Trunking for expanded enterprise connectivity;
- Cekura : AI-powered automated testing platform supported by Y Combinator, which uses AI to test AI, simulating thousands of calls to ensure reliability, built on the 99.999% availability of the Twilio Voice API to enable parallel testing at scale;
- ConsioAI: Pioneer in AI-powered phone sales for e-commerce, utilizing Twilio Voice for inbound/outbound calls, answering machine detection, call recording, and WebRTC, transforming voice into a revenue channel with developer-friendly APIs;
- Curans: training medical students in Jordan with AI patient simulators, delivered omni-channel via Twilio Voice, WhatsApp, and SMS, with SendGrid for reporting and Verify for secure logins, leveraging Twilio's flexibility to work anywhere, on any device, even in low-bandwidth environments;
- Genspark: breaking down the barriers between the digital and physical worlds with AI agents making real calls to over 2 million global users, leveraging Twilio's Voice API technology for telecommunications infrastructure and SMS for secure user authentication;
- HoloMD: supporting mental health with continuous AI engagement between appointments through Twilio's HIPAA-compliant SMS channel and SendGrid for educational content integration and delivery;
- Insight Health AI: automating 50% of routine clinical work with AI by conducting over 200,000 patient conversations, powered by Twilio's HIPAA-compliant Voice and Messaging infrastructure, with Segment driving its product-led growth;
- Loman AI: Revolutionizing restaurant operations with 24/7 AI voice agents that remember customer preferences, powered by Twilio's secure Voice API, SIP Trunking, phone numbers, Twilio Pay for payments, and SMS for order confirmations, plus SendGrid for operational emails;
- Neru Health: improving medical device therapy adherence by 10% to 20% with 24/7 AI-powered support, via Twilio Voice for AI hotlines and Messaging for appointment reminders and therapy adherence support, demonstrating how contextual engagement drives better outcomes for 10,000+ patients;
- Nooks: doubling the efficiency of the sales pipeline with AI-powered calls, leveraging Twilio's Voice API, Media Streams for real-time audio processing, Actions for dial trees and voicemails, and Conferences for seamless agent transitions;
- OhMD: simplifying healthcare administrative tasks for over 1,200 medical clinics with “Nia” AI agent, automating routine appointment scheduling and medication refill requests through Twilio's comprehensive suite, including Programmable Messaging, RCS, Voice, Video, Studio for automation workflows, Conversation Relay for call automation, with SendGrid for operational communications, and Segment for analytics and engagement insights;
- Phonely: achieving 99.2% accuracy in conversations between AI and humans with ultra-low latency, demonstrating how Twilio's voice capabilities, SIP integration, SMS messaging, and conference calling enable trust at scale for voice AI;
- R2: democratizing financial access for Latin American SMEs with AI-powered credit services and 200,000 pre-approved credit offers, representing US$200 million in available credit, using Twilio's WhatsApp API for customer engagement and SendGrid for communication workflows, with AI agent “Rita” reducing support calls by 59%;
- Strada: making insurance accessible with AI agents that handle claims 24/7, based on Twilio's Programmable Voice API for inbound/outbound calls, Answering Machine Detection for optimized attempts, and Messaging API for evidence collection;
- Subbyx: transforming device subscriptions in Italy with the AI agent “Rosie” for customer service and the digital assistant “Sublime” managing the entire customer journey via Twilio's WhatsApp and SMS for onboarding and lifecycle management, Verify for authentication, Lookup for carrier identification, and SendGrid for personalized email communications;
- Vozy: transforming customer service in Latin America with over 300 AI agents managing more than 200 million omnichannel interactions, seamlessly integrated through Twilio Messaging (WhatsApp, RCS, SMS), Voice (IVR, calls), Flex for human agent handoff, and AI tools (Conversational Intelligence, Conversation Relay);
- Wispr AI: ... replacing keyboards with voice for millions of users, with the average user relying on voice for 72% of interactions on their laptops, using Twilio for SMS authentication and download links, SendGrid for email marketing automation, and Segment as their foundation for analytics.
The judging panel included Twilio executives Mark Simms (CTO), Chris Koehler (CMO), Zachary Hanif (VP Group Architecture), Rikki Singh (VP R&D for Emerging Technologies), and Pat Hession (VP Voice and Video Engineering), along with external judges Olivia Moore (AI Partner at Andreessen Horowitz), Marc Manara (Head of Startups at OpenAI), Charles Wang (Go-to-Market Account Director at OpenAI), and Courtney Munroe (VP Global Telecommunications Research at IDC).
Each award recipient will receive up to $10,000 in Twilio credits, $2,500 in OpenAI API credits, and a $5,000 gift card, plus exclusive access to a one-on-one session with Twilio Ventures.
For more information about the AI Startup Searchlight Awards and this year's honorees, visit our blog post at: AI Startup Searchlight Awards.
