The ecommerce firm from Bengaluru, Niki.ai is renowned for its AI-based personal assistant. This week, the firm received a major $2 million Series A funding from San Francisco-based SAP.iO, and existing investor Unilazer Ventures. Sachin Jaiswal, CEO, Niki.ai remarks, “The injection of the new capital will be used in further strengthening our machine learning capabilities, building voice, and multilingual functionalities, besides expanding our distribution network.”
With this, SAP.iO, an early-stage software startups fund of German software company SAP has invested for the first time in India. Moreover, other Indian investors including Haresh Chawla, a partner at True North; and Arihant Patni, managing director at Hive Technologies; also participated in the event along with some US and German investors.
The company’s mobile application supports over 20 categories which include entertainment, travel and daily utilities, with partners including BookMyShow, Redbus, OYO, Ola, Uber, and JustRechargeIt. “In less than two years we have made progress in multiple spheres and struck diversified relationships with a majority of corporate India,” comments Ronnie Screwvala, Managing Partner, Unilazer Ventures.
Moreover, Niki.ai has also released its very own Chatbot software development kit (SDK), allowing brands to set up conversational commerce on their platform through a simple integration. Multiple banks and original equipment manufacturers and wallets, such as HDFC Bank, Intex, Oxigen Wallet, and Zopo Mobile are already making use of the SDK. Besides, the company is planning on 40 newer SDK partnerships. Furthermore, the organization intends to train its engine to interpret Indian languages, starting right from Hindi.
