Jio launches AI based video call bot; Indian economy is on a shaky ground
+ Paytm Mall biz to break even in a year
Hello there!
Welcome to today’s edition of the NextBigWhat newsletter which brings curated news and signals from the wild web, saving you a lot of time and effort.
If you like it, do press the ‘heart’ button. Got a feedback? Hit the reply button!
Jio unveils world’s first AI based video call bot that promises to ‘revolutionize’ customer support
Jio has unveiled an AI based Video Call Assistant (bot) at India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2019, that can be accessed via a standard 4G phone call, without the need for a secondary app, whose major applications are in customer support and customer communication use cases.
The company says the ‘Jio Video Call Assistant’ will empower businesses to tackle frequent queries from customers via AI that will respond to customers questions in the form of video avatars that can be customized to suit the needs of the brand. It could be a mascot, or a brand ambassador or even the CEO. It also offers multilingual capabilities. [via]
Karnataka finally goes full throttle in its electric drive
112 new Bescom charging points are expected to go live this week. BMTC is also setting up charging stations for electric buses at four different depots.
Bescom officials have announced that Metro stations, BMTC terminals, BWSSB and BBMP offices are among the 100 new places identified to get EV charging stations. [via]
Milk delivery startup Doodhwala halts operations
“Dear customer, we regret to inform you that we will be discontinuing services due to unforeseen circumstances,” an email sent to customers by Doodhwala said. “You can easily transfer your active subscriptions and wallet balance to the FTH Daily App and your daily grocery delivery will continue uninterrupted,”
- Doodhwala has halted its operations and is redirecting customers to FreshToHome, which has raised $20mn recently. [via]
Why should all electric vehicles look like bulky sedans? Meet Strom Motors’ funky 3-wheeled electric car.
Strom Motors is a Mumbai-based EV startup working on building made-in-India ‘urban mobility solutions’, the first of which is an electric car with a rather unique ‘reverse trike’ arrangement called the Strom-R3. In a ‘reverse trike’ structure, the vehicle has two wheels at the front and one at the rear.
Ratan Tata to invest in EV startup Tork Motors
Ratan Tata will be investing an undisclosed amount in Pune-based electric two-wheeler start-up Tork Motors. The announcement comes just ahead of the commercial launch of the Tork T6X electric motorcycle that is slated in the following months. The e-motorcycle though has been under development for quite a while. Ratan Tata joins a number of other big ticket investors of Tork, which has previously raised funds from Bharat Forge and Ola Cabs founder Bhavish Aggarwal. [via]
Expect Paytm Mall biz to break even in a year.
"Paytm Mall business is close to break-even, USD 3 million EBIDTA loss a month and USD 1.2-1.3 billion run rate. In a day, we do 275,000-300,000 orders a day. We have money in the bank, we have USD 260 million, so I would say that we can give more growth capital to it, so basically after a year, Paytm Mall would break even for sure” [VSS/via]
OYO ruined his wedding anniversary and this guy went on to launch a site to share his story (https://oyo-ruined-my-anniversary.com/).
The manager said that he was deeply sorry but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. I asked him how he was going to address everything me and my family had been through because of Oyo. To which he responded saying that he would credit Rs.500/- in my Oyo wallet but there was nothing else he could do. I asked him how was Rs.500 in my Oyo wallet.
Quote of the day
Indian economy is on a shaky ground. After witnessing the present (growth) data, just can't be sure about it (revival of economy in near future).
"In the last five-six years, at least we could witness some growth, but now that assurance is also gone, [Nobel awardee Abhijit Banerjee]
EY estimates that digital technologies to create $1 trillion economic value by 2025
EY said that India’s goal of reaching $5 trillion economy is heavily banking on digital adoption. “Internet is the primary enabler of the digital economy - by 2025, India is expected to have 90% internet penetration with 850 million users, with rural base growing 2.5 times as compared to the urban base,” [via]