Niyogin To Acquire Shark Tank Featured Orbo’s AI Platform For The BFSI Sector

Shark Tank fame enterprise tech startup Orbo is selling its AI platform focussed on the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, SuperScan, to listed fintech company Niyogin Fintech Ltd.

In a statement, Niyogin said its board has approved signing definitive agreements to acquire SuperScan. However, the companies didn’t disclose the acquisition cost.

Founded in 2019 by Manoj Shinde, Danish Jamil and Abhit Sinha, Orbo leverages AI to offer a beauty automation stack. It claims the beauty stack gives data insights about facial attributes, skin tone, and various abnormalities, which helps brands recommend hyper-personalised products.

Orbo CEO Shinde told Inc42 that the startup decided to sell SuperScan, an AI-powered document imaging, automation, and fraud detection platform, to focus on its offering for the beauty and personal care industry. 

Explaining the rationale behind the move, Shinde said it had become cumbersome to focus on the growth of both the platforms. 

“While we were able to onboard new clients in the beauty segments in a week or two, time taken to onboard clients in the BFSI segment was three to six months due to the regulatory nuances. We wanted to be more cautious in the segment as well. Hence, we decided to divest SuperScan and focus on BeautyGPT,” he said.

It is pertinent to note that Orbo launched its text to image LLM model BeautyGPT in March this year. The AI chatbot offers makeup look recommendations based on the user’s skin tone and skin type. 

The launch of the chatbot came about four years after Orbo acquired US-based research startup Gemia to leverage its photo enhancement software to enhance its product suite. 

It said it has incorporated a new entity, Niyogin AI Private Limited, for the acquisition of Orbo’s AI platform.

“Niyogin plans to consume and monetise this solution within its partner network. We are optimistic about the potential of this technology and its ability to create value for the dynamic needs of India’s BFSI sector. The toolkit not only reduces the KYC costs for our customers but also empowers us to streamline our credit infrastructure by enabling financially inclusive platforms,” Niyogin CEO and MD Tashwinder Singh said on the acquisition. 

Shinde said that the acquisition will allow both the companies to sharpen their focus.  

Orbo has raised a total funding of about $1.9 Mn till date and counts ex-Intel Vinod Dham among its investors. It also featured in the third season of Shark Tank India and bagged a funding of INR 1 Cr from Sugar founder Vineeta Singh.

The startup posted an operating revenue of INR 2.3 Cr in FY23 and a net loss of INR 4.4 Cr. Shinde claims that the company is on track to achieve profitability after FY24 and anticipate becoming profitable within the next six months.

With the divestment of the AI platform, Orbo is looking to focus on the rapidly-growing beauty and personal care market. India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) BPC market is expected to reach a size of $28 Bn by 2030 from $5 Bn in 2023. 

The acquisition also comes at a time when the use of AI and GenAI is on the rise in the BFSI sector. Experts believe that GenAI will play a big role in boosting efficiency across teams in companies while enabling further financial inclusion in India. 

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