For Apurva Shrivastava, a missed phone call became the idea that changed his life. The Indian-origin entrepreneur, who grew up helping his parents run their small business in Michigan, noticed something many people ignored and that was missed call. Every missed customer call often meant a lost sale.
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Years later, that childhood observation inspired him to build Avoca, an AI startup that has now reached a $1 billion valuation (around ₹8,300 crore) after raising more than $125 million from top Silicon Valley investors. Today, Avoca is helping plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians and other home service businesses ensure they never miss another customer call.
Who is Apurva Shrivastava? Apurva Shrivastava is an Indian-origin entrepreneur and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate who co-founded AI startup Avoca in 2022. He grew up in Michigan as a first-generation Indian-American. His parents owned a small business, and as a teenager, Shrivastava regularly helped answer customer calls, according to reports.
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It was during those years that he realized something important. Whenever the phone rang and no one answered, customers simply called another business.
That meant one missed call could instantly become lost revenue and the lesson stayed with him long after childhood.
From Michigan to MIT Shrivastava went on to study Computer Science at MIT, where he developed the technical skills that would later help him build his startup. In 2022, he teamed up with fellow MIT graduate Tyson Chen, whom he met during a poker night.
Chen had experienced a similar problem growing up. His mother owned an acupuncture clinic in Pennsylvania, and he had also seen how unanswered phone calls could hurt a small business.
Together, the two founders realized they had lived different versions of the same story.
The startup idea began with restaurants Initially, Apurva Shrivastava and Tyson Chen wanted to build an AI-powered answering service for restaurants. But after spending time with Rescue Air, an HVAC company, they discovered
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