niki.ai
 | |
| Formerly | zabbed |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1 March 2015 Udaipur, India[1] |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 1 (2018) |
Area served | India |
Number of employees | 50[2] (2018) |
| Website | niki |
Niki was an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded in May 2015[3] by IIT Kharagpur graduates Sachin Jaiswal, Keshav Prawasi, Shishir Modi, and Nitin Babel.
The Niki android app was launched for a limited beta in June 2015,[4] then released for public during YourStory's TechSparks 2015, and is a Tech30 company.[clarification needed] The company raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding[5] from Unilazer Ventures,[6] a Mumbai-based VC firm founded by Ronnie Screwvala, in October 2015. This was followed by another seed funding round by Ratan Tata in May 2016.[7] The company then raised US$2 million in Series A round of funding from SAP.iO, existing investors and some US and German-based investors, among others.[8] Niki.ai shut down in October 2021 as per media reports. Website not working.[9]
Product
[edit]The product is an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot which works as an intelligent personal assistant, named Niki. Leveraging natural language processing and machine learning, Niki presents a chat-based[10] natural language user interface to the users where they can interact with Niki in their natural language. Niki understands how users chat in India,[11] deciphers the words, in the context of product/services that they would like to purchase, and comes up with apt recommendations.
Initially, it was only available on the Android platform as a mobile app. The company has expanded its operations to the Facebook Messenger and Apple iOS platforms.[12] The company aims to soon be present on more messaging platforms like Slack and WhatsApp.
The company currently provides 20+ services to over 2 million consumers, covering a wide spectrum ranging from utility services like mobile recharge, bill payments, travel services like cabs,[13] buses, hotels[14] and entertainment services like movies and events. Services such as flights and healthcare are also planned.[15]
Partnerships
[edit]In September 2017, Infosys Finacle joined with Niki.ai to provide chat-based service to banking customers.[16]
In August 2017, Niki partnered with LazyPay to enable a 'buy now, pay later' feature for its users.[17]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "About the company". Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ^ "Meet the team". Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ^ "Udaipur-Based Niki Is Smarter Version Of Siri For E-Commerce". 14 July 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2016 – via indianweb2.com.
- ^ Saraswathy, M. (20 June 2016). "Niki.ai: Your order is one chat away". www.business-standard.com.
- ^ "Artificial Intelligence Startup Niki.ai Raises Funding From ... - Inc42". 30 October 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2016 – via Inc42.
- ^ "The Rise Of Bots: A Timeline Of Major VC-Backed Bot Startups - CB Insights". 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016 – via CB Insights.
- ^ "Chat Bots Charm Ratan Tata, Another AI Startup - Entrepreneur". 20 May 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016 – via entrepreneur.com.
- ^ "Ratan Tata-backed AI startup Niki.ai raises $2 mn in Series A round". VCCircle. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
- ^ Upadhyay, Harsh (9 November 2021). "Exclusive: Ratan Tata-backed AI chatbot Niki to shut down ops". Entrackr. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ Leonid, Gorev. "Chat as an App Interface: When to Consider It". Retrieved 11 January 2017.
- ^ D'Cunha, Suparna Dutt (4 October 2016). "The AI Startup Wave Is Hitting India And Investors Are Taking Notice". Retrieved 11 January 2017 – via Forbes.
- ^ "Niki.ai's new Messenger bot lets you hail cabs and order snacks in India". 25 August 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2017 – via Venturebeat.
- ^ Velayanikal, Malavika (3 December 2015). "So what if the Internet sucks in India? This AI chatbot gets things done". Retrieved 11 January 2017 – via Tech in Asia.
- ^ "Now you can book an OYO room via Niki bot". 5 October 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2017 – via Moneycontrol.com.
- ^ "Niki App Review: The All In One App! - Indian Tech Hunter". 10 November 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Infosys arm to offer chat-based service to banking customers". The Economic Times. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ Vignesh, J. (31 August 2017). "Niki.ai partners with LazyPay to offer 'buy now, pay later' feature". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
