Earlier this week, reported[FR] that i-Dispo, a French startup working on virtual personal assistant Sara, had raised a round of funding of “more than $1 Million,” with new investors including the CEO of Oracle France, Annie Eyt. Rude Baguette has now confirmed the fund raising with i-Dispo founder Ismaël Nzouetom, who says the funding will be used to hied PhDs/engineers, as well as continue expansion into the US Market.
The startup, which participated not only in the Ubifrance’s selective French Tech Tour last year, but also attended Blackbox Connect this year, already counts KIMA Ventures, Vente-prives’ Jacque-Antoine Granjon, Allocine’s Jean-David Blanc, and many other entrepreneurial business angels as well.

Sara by i-Dispo: Siri, but useful

Sara, while surprisingly similar to Siri in name, specializes in being a practical personal assistant for the 21st century businessman. With its “click-to-book” feature, it allows you to schedule meetings at any time with professionals around you via its search engine. The product’s purpose is based on providing individuals quick access to answers to their everyday questions: “what’s the cheapest tablet?” or “Sara, can you contact by car insurance to renegotiate my contact?”

The French startup hopes to grow its activity in the Silicon Valley during Q1 2013 – a rare but encouraging example of a French startup who knows where the battle will be fought, and goes there directly. I-dispo also has plans to attack the African market: “in Africa, “Sara” will change the way people connect to internet.”