A Southeast Missouri State University graduate student and alumnus are turning a problem they saw in the hotel industry into a working technology company, earning second place Sept. 18 at the Missouri Pitch Competition in Sedalia.
Bhavya Narula completed a cybersecurity degree with a minor in economics at SEMO, and is continuing as a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in applied computer science, and Jaimin Patel, a SEMO alumnus based in St. Louis, co-founded Afern AI, which develops an artificial intelligence voice agent designed to help independent hotels manage incoming calls and reservations.
The competition, hosted in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and nClouds, an AWS Premier Partner, gave participating startups five minutes to pitch their businesses, followed by four minutes of questions. Afern AI earned second place and up to $35,000 in engineering services funded by AWS and delivered by nClouds.
“Afern AI started with a problem I'd seen firsthand: for a hotel operating with a lean team, a missed call can mean a missed booking,” Patel said. “That made it a problem I genuinely wanted to solve. Placing second in a competition backed by AWS validates that we're addressing a real need. We're excited to use the prize and engineering support to enable Afern AI to complete bookings end to end, helping hotels capture more opportunities while easing the workload on stretched teams.” 
Afern AI is already being used by Deerfield Inn and Suites in Tennessee, where the technology has handled more than 3,000 calls. The hotel became a paying customer after piloting the system. At the property, about 40% of incoming calls previously went unanswered.
The company’s voice agent can answer incoming calls, provide live room rates and book reservations without requiring hotels to install new hardware or use a new phone number. The engineering support from the competition will help Afern AI connect the agent directly to the booking systems hotels already use, allowing it to complete reservations from start to finish.
“SEMO has honestly been where a lot of this started for me,” said Narula. “I’ve gotten chances here to build things, mess up, learn, compete and actually take ideas outside the classroom. Dan Presson has been one of those people who keeps pushing me to put the work in front of people instead of just sitting on it. I’m really thankful for that.”
Narula and Patel met at SEMO and became friends before starting Afern AI in January. Patel’s family has experience owning and operating hotels, giving the pair firsthand insight into the staffing challenges facing smaller and independently operated properties.
Narula also has developed TrustFall, an AI-powered cybersecurity platform that grew from a SEMO hackathon and has involved collaboration with faculty, staff and undergraduate students. Afern AI is a separate venture focused on the hotel industry.
With the competition support, Afern AI plans to focus on integrating its technology with hotel booking systems and expanding its ability to serve smaller hotel operators with lean teams.
For students interested in turning technical skills into solutions for real-world problems, SEMO’s applied computer science program provides opportunities to develop technology, work with faculty and pursue ideas with potential beyond the University.
See Narula and Patel’s work at afernai.com. Visit semo.edu/computer-science to learn more about SEMO’s computer science programs.