IT Giant Clover Infotech Backs PaaS Startup Data Science Wizards

IT services and consulting company Clover Infotech has bought a 25% stake in Mumbai-based AI startup Data Science Wizards (DSW) for INR 15.22 Cr. 

The strategic investment in DSW would enable Clover Infotech to extend niche and focused data science and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to its customers, said Javed Tapia, chairman, Clover Infotech.

Founded in 1994, Clover Infotech has empowered its customers in areas such as enterprise application management, data and analytics, legacy modernisation, automation, cybersecurity, and cloud services.

The investment will help DSW consumers with automation, insights discovery, and smarter decision making. “With Clover Infotech as a strategic investor, DSW can scale and replicate its AI-backed solutions across a huge customer base in India and focused global markets such as the Middle East, Europe, the US, and Singapore,” DSW cofounder Sandeep Khuperkar said in a statement.

Founded in October 2019, DSW is a platform-as-a-service startup that primarily offers AI and data analytics solutions and consulting services to help enterprises with data-driven decisions. 

One of its solutions – UnifyAI – helps organisations build and orchestrate AI-enabled use cases. Once integrated, it helps organizations in identifying and integrating data sources, building a unified data pipeline, mapping features in store, and writing use case-specific ML algorithms, as per the startup. 

DSW claims to receive 2.5 Mn visitors every month and has trained 776K members so far in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics solutions, as per its website.  

Future Of AI And SaaS Startups In India

In 2021, $2.8 Bn was invested in SaaS startups in India across 186 deals, according to the Inc42 Plus report. India has a large talent base of developers and strong process expertise, along with a fast-growing pool of niche talent such as designers and data scientists in addition to the availability of unique data sets and sophisticated algorithms, as per the report.

According to NASSCOM, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, India reported a 45% increase in AI usage among businesses and organisations, the highest of all the countries. 

Another report by VC firm Stellaris and IFC, India’s AI and SaaS startups can create more than $500 Bn of market value by 2030 and about 4.5 Mn jobs.

Meanwhile, there are many AI-driven startups in India that have raised funding from leading investors recently. Only last month, Actyv.ai, an AI-powered enterprise SaaS startup secured $5 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round from Dubai-based 1Digi Investment management firm. 

In the same month, Kolkata-based AI startup Data Sutram secured a $2.07 Mn funding led by Varanium Capital and Yatra Angel Network. In January 2022, Mumbai-based Fractal Analytics raised $360 Mn in funding, entering the coveted unicorn club.

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