Following the acquisition, Times Internet, which is currently Haptik’s majority stakeholder, will be completely exiting its investment.
Reliance Jio is reportedly acquiring Mumbai-based Haptik — one of the world’s largest conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms — for over Rs 200 crore.
Through this acquisition, Reliance Jio wants to build its own conversational platform on the lines of Amazon’s Alexa, a source close to the development told Inc42.
It is learnt that Reliance Jio Services Ltd and Haptik founders Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev have signed a Business Transfer Agreement and the transaction is expected to be completed this week.
Founded in 2013, Haptik has built chatbots for enterprise customers such as Samsung, KFC, P&G, Tata Group, Amazon Web Services, ICICI Bank, The Times of India, Viacom18, Dream11, Edelweiss Tokio, Club Mahindra, and IIFL.
Times Internet will no longer invest in Haptik
Following the acquisition, Times Internet, which is currently Haptik’s majority stakeholder, will be completely exiting its investment.
Haptik had last raised $11.2 Mn in a Series B round of investment, led by Times Internet. In April 2016, the company also signed a strategic partnership with Times Internet 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. It 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.
Reliance had earlier acquired majority stakes in hyperlocal logistics company Grab, software firm C-Square, vernacular language services platform Reverie, welfare schemes platform EasyGov and software services firm SankhyaSutra Labs
