Niki.ai

Short description: Artificial intelligence company

niki.ai

Formerly| zabbed
Founded| 1 March 2015; 11 years ago (2015-03-01)
Udaipur, India [1]
Founder|

* Sachin Jaiswal
* Shishir Modi
* Keshav Prawasi
* Nitin Babel

Headquarters|

Bangalore

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)
Website| niki.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 Germany -based investors, among others.[8] Niki.ai shut down in October 2021 as per media reports. Website not working.[9]

## Contents

* 1 Product
* 2 Partnerships
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## Product

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

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

* Artificial Intelligence
* AI Companies of India

## References

1. ↑ "About the company". https://niki.ai/about.
2. ↑ "Meet the team". https://niki.ai/team.
3. ↑ "Udaipur-Based Niki Is Smarter Version Of Siri For E-Commerce". 14 July 2015. http://www.indianweb2.com/2015/07/14/udaipur-based-niki-is-smarter-version-of-siri-for-e-commerce/.
4. ↑ Saraswathy, M. (20 June 2016). "Niki.ai: Your order is one chat away" (in en). www.business-standard.com. https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/niki-ai-your-order-is-one-chat-away-116062000017_1.html.
5. ↑ "Artificial Intelligence Startup Niki.ai Raises Funding From ... - Inc42". 30 October 2015. https://inc42.com/flash-feed/niki-ai-funding/.
6. ↑ "The Rise Of Bots: A Timeline Of Major VC-Backed Bot Startups - CB Insights". 2 August 2016. https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/bot-startups-timeline/.
7. ↑ "Chat Bots Charm Ratan Tata, Another AI Startup - Entrepreneur". 20 May 2016. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/276167.
8. ↑ "Ratan Tata-backed AI startup Niki.ai raises $2 mn in Series A round" (in en-US). VCCircle. 2017-06-28. https://www.vccircle.com/ratan-tata-backed-ai-startup-niki-ai-raises-2-mn-in-series-a-round/.
9. ↑ Upadhyay, Harsh (2021-11-09). "Exclusive: Ratan Tata-backed AI chatbot Niki to shut down ops" (in en-US). https://entrackr.com/2021/11/exclusive-ratan-tata-backed-ai-chatbot-niki-to-shut-down-ops/.
10. ↑ Leonid, Gorev. "Chat as an App Interface: When to Consider It". https://alty.co/blog/chat-as-an-app-interface-when-to-consider-it/.
11. ↑ D'Cunha, Suparna Dutt (4 October 2016). "The AI Startup Wave Is Hitting India And Investors Are Taking Notice". https://www.forbes.com/sites/suparnadutt/2016/10/04/the-ai-startup-wave-is-hitting-india-and-investors-are-taking-notice/.
12. ↑ "Niki.ai's new Messenger bot lets you hail cabs and order snacks in India". 25 August 2016. https://venturebeat.com/2016/08/25/niki-ais-new-messenger-bot-lets-you-hail-cabs-and-order-snacks-in-india/.
13. ↑ Velayanikal, Malavika (3 December 2015). "So what if the Internet sucks in India? This AI chatbot gets things done". https://www.techinasia.com/internet-sucks-in-india-but-ai-chatbot-get-things-done.
14. ↑ "Now you can book an OYO room via Niki bot". 5 October 2016. http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/sme/now-you-can-bookoyo-room-via-niki-bot_7579601.html.
15. ↑ "Niki App Review: The All In One App! - Indian Tech Hunter" (in en-US). 10 November 2021. https://www.indiantechhunter.in/niki-app-review/.
16. ↑ "Infosys arm to offer chat-based service to banking customers". The Economic Times. 2017-09-19. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/infosys-arm-to-offer-chat-based-service-to-banking-customers/articleshow/60753200.cms.
17. ↑ Vignesh, J. (2017-08-31). "Niki.ai partners with LazyPay to offer 'buy now, pay later' feature". The Economic Times. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/niki-ai-partners-with-lazypay-to-offer-buy-now-pay-later-feature/articleshow/60310670.cms.

## External links

* Blog
* SAP.IO

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