Reliance to build India's own Alexa

It is really a good news for the companies into serious digital medium of advertising, Reliance Jio is acquiring chatbot maker, Haptik for over INR 200 Cr, to build its own conversational platform on the lines of Amazon’s Alexa and the transaction is expected to be completed this week.

Reliance is moving in a very strategic direction, earlier Reliance had acquired music streaming company Saavn and vernacular language technology startup Reverie. Haptik’s investors include Times Internet and Kalaari Capital.

The transaction is expected to be completed this week. Haptik had last raised $11.2 Mn and counts Times Internet and Kalaari Capital as its investors.

According to a company document accessed by Inc42, the company founders have signed the board resolution in an EGM earlier this month regarding the deal. According to the document, Reliance Jio Services Ltd, Haptik founders - Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev have signed a Business Transfer Agreement. With this Amazon backed Alexa will lose some market share in India. Another opportunity for Reliance is to look into the next generation technology used by another American company COMMSCORE. How is doing monopoly in the rating of the publications and media, with their tools. Sources said, Government of India and large advertising agencies are also following the ranking of COMMSCORE. Now the question is when Indian companies are doing business in India, so an Indian agency also to evaluate the right position and ranking.

Founded in 2013 by Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev, Mumbai-based Haptik lets users chat with their voice assistants to complete daily tasks such as online shopping, travel bookings, food delivery among others. The company signed a strategic partnership with Times Internet in April 2016 to further develop its product and improve its AI capabilities.

The company has worked with over 50 brands such as Samsung, Future Group, OYO and KFC. One of the unique points for Haptik as its cofounder Ashish has shared earlier, is that every single chatbot built on the Haptik platform is 100% customised, and all of the customisation is done by its in house professional services team.

The company expanded to the US in 2018 and the UK in 2019. It is now looking to focus on English-speaking markets in the coming years.

As per the report, the FY18 Haptik reported a total revenue of INR 4.58 Crores (189%) increase from FY17) and expense of INR 27.85 Crores (10% drop from FY17). Its net losses for FY18 stand at INR -22.54 Crores.