Niki.ai partners with Google Pay to tap into Tier 2 and 3 customers

Ratan Tata-backed artificial intelligence firm Niki.ai has partnered with payment gateway Google Pay to bring onboard Tier 2 and 3 consumers.

Niki.ai allows users to book movie tickets, make travel and hotel reservations and make utility bill payments among others by partnering with over 60 companies.

Users can use Niki.ai to make text and voice-enabled transactions on a chat interface with multi-lingual support. The company said that it registered gross merchandise value of Rs 200 crore in 2018 on an annualised basis. The platform currently has over three million customers with an average order value of Rs 303.

“As a one-stop transaction solution for Bharat, our focus also lies on the Indians who still spend a lot of their precious time making offline payments. We want to simplify digital transactions to the extent that everyone in the country, despite age, literacy or language barriers can make online payments independently, without any inhibitions. With Niki’s simple interface and integration of GPay, internet users of Bharat have a quick, easy and safe way to transact online,” said Sachin Jaiswal, chief executive and co-founder of Niki.ai.

Run by Bengaluru-headquartered Techbins Solutions Pvt. Ltd, the venture was set up in April 2015 by Jaiswal, Keshav Prawasi, Nitin Babel and Shishir Modi, all of whom are IIT Kharagpur alumni.

In January last year, it partnered with Kerala-headquartered Federal Bank and created a chatbot in the lender’s mobile app, FedMobile.

Besides Federal Bank, Niki.ai tied up with HDFC Bank in late 2016 to create a Facebook Messenger bot named HDFC Bank OnChat to help customers book cabs and make mobile recharges.

In the travel segment, it has partnered with Cleartrip and OYO to design a bot for hotel bookings.

The company also provides a plug and play service to clients like ICICI Bank and Karbonn Smartphones among others.

Niki.ai last raised capital in 2017. It secured $2 million (about Rs 13 crore) in a Series A round of funding from San Francisco-based fund SAP.iO and existing investor Unilazer Ventures.