Reliance Jio Digital Services Ltd (RJDSL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, has signed an agreement to acquire chatbot-maker Haptik Infotech for ₹230 crore.

The company will invest another ₹700 crore over a period for expansion. 

This transaction enables RJio to leverage Haptik’s capabilities across various devices and touch points. 

This partnership will also boost Haptik’s existing enterprise grade business, with the company continuing to build Artificial Intelligence solutions for corporates globally.

“This strategic investment underlines our commitment to further boost the digital ecosystem and provide Indian users conversational AI-enabled devices with multi-lingual capabilities. We believe voice interactivity will be the primary mode of interaction for Digital India,” Akash Ambani, Director, RJio, said.

On a fully diluted basis, RJDSL will hold about 87 per cent of the business. 

The rest will be held by Haptik founders and employees through stock options. 

Haptik’s team will continue to drive its business, including the enterprise platform and digital consumer assistants, RJio said in a statement.

Strategic opportunity

Haptik was founded in 2013 by Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev. Its clientele includes Samsung, Coca-Cola, Future Retail, Tata Group, Oyo Rooms and Mahindra group among others. 

“We truly believe now is the opportunity to serve the next billion users who come online, and who better to partner with than one of the world’s largest digital ecosystems in Jio,” Aakrit Vaish, Co-Founder and CEO at Haptik, said.

“We look forward to using this strategic opportunity to exponentially scale up the business across various product lines,” Vaish added.

The investment focus is on enhancement and expansion of the platform and an addressable market opportunity of over one billion users in India, the statement added.

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