EXCLUSIVE — Conversational AI company Clinc is looking to double its team and expand its partnerships in 2018.

The company reported $4.5 million in revenue for 2017, a 1500% revenue increase since open its doors in 2016, according to company statements (which did not disclose its revenue for 2016).

“We are working with top U.S. banks with 28 new partnerships,” Helen Yu, chief growth officer for Clinc, told Bank Innovation. “We are confident that we can move from pilot to production [with these partnerships] within the next year.”

While Yu was unable to give any of these new partnerships by name, Clinc—which provides conversational AI technology to banks and financial institutions that utilizes natural language—currently works with banks such as USAA, where its technology is live.

Clnic’s goal in 2018, Yu said, is to be the “partner ecosystem” for banks, financial institutions, and other businesses where conversational AI could be better utilized. Clinc’s technology could be used for both text and voice applications — for instance, it is currently helping to power the USAA Alexa skill.

A veteran of Oracle and Adobe Systems, Yu was officially named Clinc’s chief growth officer last week. One of Yu’s goals is to expand Clinc’s success and customer strategy, and to do, she will be expanding Clinc’s team; the company itself plans to double its employee roster, looking to add 50 new hires for a 100-person team.

At the moment, Yu’s customer strategy and marketing team has about 10 members dedicated to it, but it is “definitely growing,” she said. As the team grows, Clinc will remain focused on partnership and product growth, she said.

“[Clinc is] focused on vertical expansion; to handle multiple different verticals, we would need to have a dedicated person to handle the partnership ecosystem,” she said, by example. This is an area Clinc is looking to fill, as well as marketing and social media positions.

To learn more about conversational AI and digital banking join us on March 5-6, 2018 at the Parc 55 in San Francisco for Bank Innovation 2018. Click here to register.