KPMG India acqui-hires AI-driven startup Recommender Labs

The Indian arm of global professional services giant KPMG has acqui-hired Recommender Labs Pvt. Ltd, which provides decision-making services driven by artificial intelligence. 

KPMG India said in a statement that it has acquired Mumbai-based Recommender Labs’ trademark brand, software products and its other intellectual property rights.

Recommender Labs’ managing director and four of its employees will be joining KPMG’s India division.

KPMG said the deal was aimed at integrating Recommender Labs’ offerings to boost its AI capabilities.

“The acqui-hire will help us unlock the value of AI for our spectrum of clients and their varied business needs that we address on a daily basis,” said Akhilesh Tuleja, partner and head of risk consulting at KPMG India.

KPMG also plans to build a centre of excellence which will specialise in decision-science and AI-driven solutions.

Sanjaya Sharma, the founder and chief executive of Recommender Labs, will be joining KPMG as a senior advisor. His role at KPMG will include building analytics-focused platforms, providing inputs on setting up new services and conducting training.

“KPMG’s acquisition of RLPL is aptly timed as AI has started advancing positive push from the government to utilise technological advancements in order to reduce financial losses and increase output efficiency,” said Sharma. 

Recommender Labs was set up in 2016. The platform leverages its AI capabilities to generate recommendations facilitated by machine learning (ML) to support users during decision-making processes. 

The startup’s offerings include Universal Recommender Engine, Chatbot Authoring Framework, Credit Risk Engine and Gamification Temple.

KPMG started operations in India in 1993. Its offerings include performance-based, industry-focused and technology-enabled services to provide its clients information on local laws, regulations and markets, among other things.