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niki.ai

Coordinates: 12°56′35″N 77°37′19″E / 12.94318°N 77.62186°E / 12.94318; 77.62186
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niki.ai
Formerlyzabbed
Founded1 March 2015; 9 years ago (2015-03-01)
Udaipur, India[1]
Founder
  • Sachin Jaiswal
  • Shishir Modi
  • Keshav Prawasi
  • Nitin Babel
Headquarters,
India
12°56′35″N 77°37′19″E / 12.94318°N 77.62186°E / 12.94318; 77.62186
Number of locations
1 (2018)
Area served
India
Number of employees
50[2] (2018)
Websiteniki.ai

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

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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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ "About the company". Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  2. ^ "Meet the team". Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Udaipur-Based Niki Is Smarter Version Of Siri For E-Commerce". 14 July 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2016 – via indianweb2.com.
  4. ^ Saraswathy, M. (20 June 2016). "Niki.ai: Your order is one chat away". www.business-standard.com.
  5. ^ "Artificial Intelligence Startup Niki.ai Raises Funding From ... - Inc42". 30 October 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2016 – via Inc42.
  6. ^ "The Rise Of Bots: A Timeline Of Major VC-Backed Bot Startups - CB Insights". 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016 – via CB Insights.
  7. ^ "Chat Bots Charm Ratan Tata, Another AI Startup - Entrepreneur". 20 May 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016 – via entrepreneur.com.
  8. ^ "Ratan Tata-backed AI startup Niki.ai raises $2 mn in Series A round". VCCircle. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  9. ^ Upadhyay, Harsh (9 November 2021). "Exclusive: Ratan Tata-backed AI chatbot Niki to shut down ops". Entrackr. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  10. ^ Leonid, Gorev. "Chat as an App Interface: When to Consider It". Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "Niki.ai's new Messenger bot lets you hail cabs and order snacks in India". 25 August 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2017 – via Venturebeat.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "Now you can book an OYO room via Niki bot". 5 October 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2017 – via Moneycontrol.com.
  15. ^ "Niki App Review: The All In One App! - Indian Tech Hunter". 10 November 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  16. ^ "Infosys arm to offer chat-based service to banking customers". The Economic Times. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  17. ^ Vignesh, J. (31 August 2017). "Niki.ai partners with LazyPay to offer 'buy now, pay later' feature". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
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