Travel startup KOGO raises $350,000 angel round

KOGO, a unified platform for road travel owned by Kogo Tech Labs, has raised $350,000 in an angel funding round led by Rampraveen Swaminathan, Raja Gopalakrishnan and Vikram Bhadauria.

Swaminathan is the CEO of Mahindra Logistics, Gopalakrishnan is the EVP International Markets at FIS and Bhadauria is the managing director at Alok Masterbatches, said a company statement.

According to the statement, the fresh capital will help the company in its go-to-market strategy for the product launch in 2020.

“We were going to change the road travel industry by creating a unified platform that would be a content and revenue generation juggernaut. We launch in India in January 2020 and hope to expand to additional markets in Asia, North America & Western Europe within 12-18 months,” said Raj K Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of KOGO.

KOGO was co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Gopalakrishnan and Praveer Kochhar. It is an automated storytelling platform and enables travel content creation. The company, through its explorer programme, is creating automated road travel stories covering over 1 million kilometres in India, within the first 10 months.

The platform uses a combination of an app and a device. At its core is an artificial intelligence-powered storytelling engine that automatically writes travel stories enabling travel discovery and enhanced experiences.

The AI-powered app called KogoAPPTM along with the sensor bot called KogoBOTTM, records where the user goes and converts it into unique travel stories that can be easily edited and shared.

The KogoBOTTM is a small device that users are required to carry while travelling. It has a dedicated GPS attached with multiple sensors and seven days of battery with heavy usage, and up to 20 days of data even when there is no network.

“The best stories on the road are the ones that are told and KOGO is uniquely poised to disrupt the global road travel market with its storytelling platform. It is using AI to automatically create stories and enabling everyone to share them.  The business model is simple, the technology innovative and the potential is global. I am excited to be part of this venture and what it can potentially do for road travel worldwide,” said Bhadauria, who is also an angel investor.

KOGO will be available for purchase from January 2020 through their website and a network of 200 points of sale across India.

Artificial Intelligence is getting creative. Automated storytelling uses a combination of AI, Machine Learning (ML) and data to weave content. Platforms like Charisma.ai not only use AI to create stories but also help users talk to the characters. 

Companies are now moving towards using emerging technology to personalise consumer experience. 

The online travel company, MakeMyTrip, for example, is investing in chatbots as well as AI solutions that predict consumer behaviour to personalise its services. 

Watch: Personalisation is the last frontier for consumer internet companies: Sanjay Mohan, MakeMyTrip