Apurva Shrivastava grew up watching his parents lose business every time a call went unanswered. Decades later, he built an AI voice agent company that solves exactly that problem for America’s plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians
Apurva Shrivastava spent his teenage years in Michigan helping his parents, who ran a small business. The lesson that stayed with him was about the importance of telephones. Every missed call meant the potential customer had already gone to someone else who picked up the phone. What started with this observation has evolved into a billion-dollar organization today.
How Avoca Was Born
Shrivastava studied computer science at MIT, where he met Tyson Chen during a poker night. Chen’s mother ran an acupuncture practice in Pennsylvania and had grown up with the same understanding of what a missed call costs a small business. In 2022, the two co-founded Avoca. They initially built an AI answering service for restaurants before a conversation with Rescue Air, an HVAC company, reoriented the entire business. A missed restaurant order is a $30-$40 loss. A missed HVAC installation call can cost $30,000 to $40,000. The scale of the opportunity was immediately obvious.
What the Product Actually Does
Avoca develops and implements artificial intelligence (AI) voice agents for service industries such as plumbing, electrical services, roofing, and HVAC. The voice agents automatically answer incoming calls, check the current schedule, and provide similar services, such as making appointments in their databases and sometimes retrieving previously signed estimates. What makes the system unique among others is its ability to use a natural human voice, making it an indispensable assistant for administrative tasks where most small contractors lack sufficient support.
Where It Stands Today
Avoca has raised more than $125 million over the past two years and is valued at $1 billion, translating to roughly Rs 8,300 crore. Shrivastava sees the timing as significant, with the HVAC industry alone worth $50 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $75 billion by 2032. His broader argument is that AI will not replace the technician. It will make the technician’s business impossible to miss. According to the latest statistics, Avoca has raised more than $125 million over the last two years of its operation and is valued at $1 billion, equivalent to approximately Rs 8,300 crore. Apurva states that the timing seems significant as the HVAC industry may grow to $75 billion by
