Jidoka Technologies, a Chennai-based start-up that offers artificial intelligence-powered quality control (QC) solutions for the manufacturing industry, is planning to foray into the North American and European markets. The deep tech venture is also expanding the scope of its solutions to cater to several new industries in the domestic market. 

“We had strong growth in the domestic market over the last few years. and now we are aspiring to go beyond the Indian market. We are eyeing the North American and European markets,” said Sekar Udayamurthy, Co-founder and CEO, Jidoka Technologies.  

Udayamurthy said while eastern Europe has several industrial clusters like Chennai, the north American region has several Indian companies, including some of its manufacturing clients, either setting up new units or expanding their capacity. “We are already in talks with a few companies in these two geographies,” Udayamurthy said.

Founded in 2018 by Udayamurthy along with Krishna Iyengar and Vinodh Venkatesan, Jidoka Technologies combines artificial intelligence (AI) with custom automation to enhance the quality and efficiency of quality check in manufacturing process. 

Jidoka’s QC solution consists of two parts – a proprietary AI-based software solution called ‘Kompass’ and a hardware platform comprising three models: Huron, Tigris and Miyake, each catering to different types of QC requirements. Some of its solutions include surface defect detection, audio defect detection, assembly verification, print inspection, package inspection and traceability of products.

Udayamurthy said Jidoka’s AI-powered visual detection solution can scan 4,500 products per minute and offer 98 per cent accuracy in defect detection on a consistent basis.

Logistics and FMCG

Jidoka Technologies was started to meet the QC requirements of the automotive industry and it has since expanded to other industries. However, 18 of its 22 clients are still from the automotive sector. 

In March, the company diversified into the FMCG sector. “50 per cent of our revenues come from the FMCG sector. It’s a growing space for us,” Udayamurthy said. 

Jidoka has also forayed into the logistics sector. It recently signed a technical alliance with Mahindra Logistics. Under the agreement, Jidoka’s solution will be rolled out across Mahindra Logistics’ warehouses. The quality control solution, co-developed with Mahindra Logistics, will do counting and quality inspection as consignments come in and go out of the warehouses, and match them against the invoice and delivery challan.  

Udayamurthy said, eventually the company wishes to have 3-4 verticals with each contributing 25 per cent revenue share.  “Automotive, FMCG and Logistics will be three core verticals and the fourth vertical can be either general manufacturing or electronics.”

Started with ₹80-lakh of bootstrapped capital by the three co-founders, Jidoka raised $340,000 in seed funding in May 2021. In April this year, The Chennai Angels (TCA) announced its first tranche investment of ₹3 crore in Jidoka Technologies with a follow-on investment commitment of ₹3 crore later this year.

“Our next round of funding is primarily for product validation in the Indian market and to fuel our geographic expansion,” Udayamurthy said. 

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