AI Startup Racetrack.ai Raises $5 Mn Funding, Plans To Go Overseas

Bengaluru-based AI startup Racetrack.ai has raised $5 Mn in a pre-Series A funding from a group of investors, including founding member of blockchain platform Biocoin Murali Krishnan  and US-based investor Angel Investor Dov Kagan. The startup will be utilising the fund to expand its operation to the US, Mauritius, and Singapore markets. With the current funding, Racetrack.ai is valued at $21 Mn.

The funding will also be used to launch bot-based kiosks by early next year which will be installed at public places such as hospitals, airports, and shopping complexes to guide customers in order to get the right product/destination.

Racetrack.ai offers two flagship products Marvin and Turing. Marvin is a chatbot that provides sales support to clients whereas Turing is an online and offline business accelerator that helps in better business planning and execution.

Subrat Parida, founder, Racetrack.ai said, “This move will help us delve into newer business verticals like retail, banking and healthcare. This boost in our physical presence will open new doors for us to partner with intercontinental brands and decision-makers while helping us to create global footprint in the AI industry.”

Founded in 2015 by Subrat Parida ,Racetrack.ai is a sales and support-focused AI driven platform designed for education, real estate, and ecommerce sectors.

The startup is targeting businesses such as BFSI, education, health, hospitality, and real estate. It has over 29 corporate clients that include the holiday lifestyle firm Sterling Holidays, online home rental startup Nestaway, and Mantri Developers among others.

Prior to this, the startup had raised $300K seed fund in 2016, according to Crunchbase. Further, the startup is also planning to raise Series A by the end of this year.

AI Industry In India

Similar to Racetrack.ai, there are other Indian startups such as Niki.AI, Arya.ai, Retention.ai, and Activ.AI, among others, specialising in the field of artificial intelligence.

Recently, AI-based startup AntWorks raised $15 Mn in a Series A funding round from SBI Investments Co. Ltd. The startup said to use the funding to strengthen their marketing and sales engine and entering into newer markets.

In a recent study by Accenture, it was revealed that AI could add $957 Bn to the Indian economy or increase the country’s income by 15% by 2035.

Government think-tank Niti Ayog is also planning to adopt artificial intelligence in the sectors of healthcare, agriculture, education, infrastructure, and transportation. A two-tier structure has been proposed for the same which will include the Centre of Research Excellence (CORE) and International Centres of Transformational AI (ICTAI).

With emerging startups in the AI sector, the global AI sector is poised to grow to $16.06 Bn by 2022.

Further innovations in the AI-powered applications for improving customer solutions are being expected. The major industries that rely on artificial intelligence are food, travel, finance, retail, airline, and clothing.

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