AI’s Rise in Bangalore
I always believed that the cities or countries that have the most diverse mix of cultures prosper more; this is one of the main supporting factors for Bangalore as well. The better the mix of cultures, the better the product because if the majority of people think alike then innovation is limited. Other factors that Bangalore can boast about include:
- Internet : better connectivity compared to other cities in India
- Cafes : A lot can definitely happen over a coffee for startups
- High consumer acceptance of the latest tech products
- Unlikely support received from the insane city traffic How, you ask? Consumers prefer startups to help them buy, deliver, and chat to avoid being stuck in traffic for hours.??
Bangalore is one of the fastest growing startup ecosystems and Indian startups have been on the good side of getting funded from VC’s across the world. I remember reading an article which stated that in 2016, $4 billion was invested here in India, a 3% increase from the previous year.
To be honest, only a minor share of this is currently in the AI space because AI products generally do not have early revenue numbers which e-commerce or food tech startups have, which traditionally were common investor interests and proof points. But recently, there has been a spike in the acceptance of artificially intelligent products ranging from chat-bots to voice assistants and stretches up to the imagination of Tony Stark’s Jarvis.
To name a few startups that came to limelight in the last 18 months:
- Arya.ai: first Indian AI startup to make it into International Innovators list.
- TupleJump: Acquired by Apple
- SigTuple: India’s biggest funding in healthcare AI
Some good news during the last year that proves the acceptance of Indian AI startups:
- Around 6 AI startups acquired by global companies in the last year.
- Close to 200 odd AI focused companies & have attracted more than $30 million in funding.
I am a strong believer that AI startups will continue to gain interest from investors as the use cases become real time and are implemented in the daily life of the users. More specifically, some of the AI themes that I think will continue are retail and e-commerce, and in the future, food tech and logistics optimization.
