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Airtel acquires 10 percent stake in AI startup Voicezen

25May By AdityaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Airtel acquires 10 percent stake in AI startup Voicezen

Indian telecom company Bharti Airtel acquires 10 percent stake in Gurgaon-based start-up Voicezen, which focusses on conversational artificial intelligence technologies, in an all-cash deal, the private operator said on Thursday. The stake purchase will give Bharti Airtel preferred access to Voicezen’s technologies, which can be deployed across its customer touch points in multiple languages, Airtel said in a statement without disclosing the amount it paid for buying the stake. The acquisition has been made by the company under its fast expanding Airtel Startup Accelerator Programme, the company noted. “AI is a big focus area for Airtel given the deep positive impact the technology can have in transforming customer experience. Voicezen has built some promising products that are ve...

13May By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

SirionLabs raises $44mn led by Tiger Global, Avatar Growth Capital

SirionLabs, an AI-powered contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform, raises USD 44 million (over Rs 331 crore) in series C funding led by Tiger Global and Avatar Growth Capital. The latest round brings SirionLabs' total capital raised to USD 66 million till date. The earlier rounds were led by Sequoia Capital India, a statement said. "The new funding will be utilised to enhance engineering capabilities at our Gurgaon centre and our newly established AI laboratory in Seattle. We are also using the capital to ramp up SirionLabs' global sales and marketing capabilities, as well as to expand our technology and go to market partnerships," SirionLabs co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer Ajay Agarwal said. Headquartered in Gurugram, SirionLabs' diverse team consists of o...

Vernacular.ai secures $5.1 mn led by Exfinity Ventures

8May By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Vernacular.ai secures $5.1 mn led by Exfinity Ventures

Vernacular.ai has raised USD 5.1 million (about Rs 38.7 crore) in funding, led by Exfinity Ventures and IAN Fund, Kalaari Capital. AngelList, LetsVenture, also participated in the series A round, a statement said. The fresh capital will be used to fund the company's global expansion into Southeast Asia and the US and towards R&D to further enhance its proprietary AI-based voice automation platform, it added. "As we evolve our voice AI platform and continue to expand our customer-base in new markets, we are happy to see the increased investor confidence in our model. This Series A round will be used to fund the company's expansion outside India and to drive innovation through rigorous R&D across multiple verticals of our business," Vernacular.ai co-founder and CEO Sourabh ...

Samsung S20 Launch, First AI and 5G based Galaxy Smartphone

12Feb By PriyankaNo Comments

Tech

Samsung S20 Launch, First AI and 5G based Galaxy Smartphone

Samsung has unveiled Galaxy S20, a new series of flagship devices featuring 5G and artificial intelligence camera technology, to strengthen its position in the high-end smartphone market. "As we enter this new decade, 5G will completely change how we communicate... Galaxy S20 variants - Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra - come with 5G connectivity," Samsung Electronics President and Head of Mobile Communications Business TM Roh said in a statement. The company said Galaxy S20 series introduces artificial intelligence (AI) camera technologies and is build for future of communications. The South Korean firm has been witnessing strong competition in the premium mobile phone space from Apple's iPhone and OnePlus. The Galaxy S20 series, unveiled here at Samsung's 'Unpacke...

Facebook Acquire AI Location Accuracy Startup Scape Technologies

10Feb By AdityaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Facebook Acquire AI Location Accuracy Startup Scape Technologies

Facebook has acquired computer vision start-up Scape Technologies. The deal for London-based Scape could be around $40M, according to the report, and it says filings indicate that Facebook has more than 75% of the company. They also indicate that VC representatives on Scape's board have been replaced by two Facebook execs. Scape allows developers to build apps that call for location accuracy better than that offered by GPS, using a "visual positioning service." While it focused initially on augmented reality, Scape is looking to enable any camera to understand its surroundings." "Rather than rely on 3D maps built and stored locally, Scape's visual engine builds and references 3D maps on the cloud, allowing devices to tap into a ‘shared understanding’ of an environment. The ...

22Jan By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Samya.AI Raises $6M in Seed Funding led by Sequoia India

CHICAGO, Jan. 22, 2020-- Samya.AI, an enterprise Revenue Growth AI SaaS company has raised $6 million in seed round funding led by Sequoia India. Samya's other initial investors include Ashish Gupta (Founder of Junglee.com and Helion VC), Deb Henretta (Partner, G100 Companies and Ex-Group President, P&G), Arijit Sengupta (Founder of Kradle Ventures and Antuit Inc), Deborah Kops (Ex COO and Board Member of Antuit Inc and Ex CMO of WNS) and Sandeep Sugla (Founder of Marketsandmarkets Inc). Samya.AI has been founded by Shailendra Singh, Deepinder Dhingra and Pavan Palety, experienced leaders who have previously held leadership positions at organizations including IBM, Noodle.ai, Mu Sigma and MarketsandMarkets. Shelly Singh and Deepinder Dhingra have been instrumental in scaling Mu S...

20Jan By NitishNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Apple acquires Xnor.ai for $200 million

Apple has acquired Seattle-based AI start-up Xnor.ai, which specializes in low-power, edge-based artificial intelligence tools for $200 million. However, the acquisition deal is yet to be confirmed by Apple but it said that, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” Xnor.ai has a software tool that uses artificial intelligence to recognize objects. This software is used directly from an iPhone rather than from the cloud. These image recognition tools can become standard features for future iPhones and webcams. This acquisition resembles Apple’s purchase of Seattle startup Turi in 2016. Turi's software helps large and small organizations make better sense of the data they collect. In 2014, Apple...

28Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Corporate Travel Management Company Tripeur Raises $1M Funding

Tripeur, the world's smartest corporate travel management company, raised $1 Million funding from SenseAI, Better Capital, Alacrity India, Patni Wealth Advisors, and others. Existing investors Incubate Fund and Rajul Garg also participated. Tripeur's AI platform has powered over 1.4 lakh corporate travel transactions for over 50,000 business travelers and set new standards in corporate travel booking experience. The company is on track for yet another year of stellar growth and is planning to use the fund to grow 5X, further strengthen its Artificial Intelligence capabilities and explore international markets. "We are noticing that the corporates, small and large, are spending 20% to 30% more than what they ideally should on travel. Our singular purpose is to help corporates to contr...

US based UST Global invests in Indian startup Cogniphi Technologies

20Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

US based UST Global invests in Indian startup Cogniphi Technologies

US-based tech company UST Global invested in Cogniphi Technologies, an AI and cognitive technology startup in India. The strategic investment will accelerate the development and advanced research of Cogniphi's Artificial Intelligence and Vision (AIVI) platform, and the companies will formalise a joint go-to-market strategy, a statement said. Cogniphi's AI solutions are used by manufacturing, retail, surveillance, public sector, healthcare, and logistics companies. The Trivandrum-based startup also has ongoing projects in telematics, security, and surveillance through its associate company, Ideas and Innovations Squared Technologies (II2). "Investing in Cogniphi Technologies reflects our continued commitment to offer the best of technologies for our clients. At Cogniphi, we have se...

25Oct By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

AI startup Crediwatch raises $3.2M funding

Crediwatch, a Bangalore-based fintech company building AI/ML tools to help the financial services industry reduce credit risk, has secured US$3.2 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by ARTIS Labs. Abstract Ventures also participated in this round. The funding will accelerate R&D and commercialization of Crediwatch’s platform. Prior to this round, Crediwatch has raised US$1.6 million. Crediwatch is a ‘data insights-as-a-service’ company that provides lenders, businesses with actionable credit intelligence on private entities they need to improve trust and increase their lending and trading activity. Crediwatch does this with no human intervention by deploying the latest practical AI and technology tools that provide the most reliable comprehensive real-ti...

Airtel acquires Stakes in Vahan, Launched Startup Accelerator Program

25Oct By AdityaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Airtel acquires Stakes in Vahan, Launched Startup Accelerator Program

Bharti Airtel has acquired stake in Bengaluru-based AI startup Vahan and also launched its first startup accelerator. Airtel's Startup Accelerator will enable early startups get access to Airtel's online and offline distribution network, deep market understanding and ecosystem of global strategic partners. Airtel developed in-house capabilities around machine learning and artificial intelligence which could be leveraged to aid the growth of startups. Airtel also announced the induction of Bengaluru-based tech startup Vahan into its Startup Accelerator Program. "Airtel will acquire a stake in Vahan and partner with them in building significant scale to achieve their vision of enabling jobs for the next billion internet users," the statement added. Founded in 2016, and backed...

15Oct By AdityaNo Comments

INDIA

Huawei deploys first AI based Pre-5G tech in India

Controversial Chinese telecom giant Huawei has deployed India's first artificial intelligence (AI) based pre-5G technology on the Vodafone Idea network. The telecom gear maker claimed that the deployment of AI-based massive MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) network will enhance the user experience by three-fold within the same set of the spectrum. "We are consistently deploying futuristic, next generation technologies to enhance the capacity and efficiency of our network. Adding AI capabilities to India's largest deployment of massive MIMO for enhancing user experience is a further testament of our commitment to creating a future-proof network for the digital era," Vodafone Idea Ltd Chief Technology Officer Vishant Vora said in a statement. Massive MIMO leverages 5G techno...