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An artificial intelligence (AI) startup, niki.ai, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its seed round from Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures. The startups is owned and operated by Techbins Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Founded in April this year by Shishir Modi, Sachin Jaiswal, Keshav Prawasi and Nitin Babel, niki.ai, is a bot that lets users order anything through a chat interface. The startup has been building and testing the product with a limited set of beta users for the last seven months.
Niki supports end-to-end bookings for Ola and Uber cabs and has an in-chat payment option using Paytm Wallet and are working on more services. With a few quick clicks, Niki can find and suggest the nearest, most quality and most cost-effective cab, allowing users to review the details of the cab and its driver as well as track its progress.
Speaking on the development, Sachin Jaiswal, co-founder of niki.ai said, “Many users are not able to follow up with the continuing increase in number of apps, due to low memory phones and slow internet connection. There was a need to cut the noises around excess content to a more personalised suggestion and decision-making. The answer was a chatbot which could simplify online ordering.”
The product offers to guide users with recommendations to find the right service and complete the transaction. In the backend, the complex algorithms keep running to understand user preferences and personalise the experience for every user, i.e. users can search, choose, pay and complete their orders on the Niki App, which will be opened for public soon.
The seed funding will be majorly used on product development and expanding service offerings. Currently, the startup has a 16 member team comprising of developers, designers and growth hackers.
Unlike other AI applications (Siri, Google Now, etc) that focus mainly on productivity, niki.ai’s focus is commerce. In the coming future, niki.ai will be powered with voice capabilities and close-knit integrations with all online platforms including web, smartphones, etc. Besides, the product will also be accessible on calls or sms.
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