Flipkart, the Indian eCommerce player being acquired by Walmart, has acquired Liv.ai, the Bengaluru startup working on speech recognition platforms using artificial intelligence.
According to a report in BGR citing Flipkart, once the deal is complete, Liv.ai will become part of Flipkart’s center of excellence for voice-based solutions, with the goal of creating a more personalized and conversational shopping experience for consumers. The report noted that Flipkart is aiming to use Liv.ai’s speech-to-text technology to give consumers in India a shopping environment that is in their own language.
“The next wave of growth of internet users is coming from Tier 2+ cities, and 70% of these current internet users are native/vernacular language speakers, and this proportion is only increasing,” Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said in an interview. “Given the complexities in typing on vernacular keyboards, voice will become a preferred interface for new shoppers.”
The executive noted that building a voice interface is challenging in India, given the multiple languages and accents in the country. “The team at Liv has been able to solve this through multiple technological innovations, including deep neural net-based methods. This expertise is a big capability add-on for us, and we are delighted to welcome them to Flipkart,” said Krishnamurthy.
Earlier this month, reports surfaced that Flipkart is gearing up to roll out a second loyalty program later in August. Reuters,
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