Mezi raises US$ 9 million from Nexus Venture, Saama Capital, others

New Delhi: Artificial intelligence-powered personal shopping assistant start-up Mezi has raised $9 million in a Series A funding round from existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and new investors Saama Capital and American Express Ventures.

The investment will be used to support the company’s growth and accelerate Mezi’s product and artificial intelligence technology development around conversational commerce, natural language processing and machine learning, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mezi was founded in December 2015 by Swapnil Shinde and Snehal Shinde. It is a personal shopping assistant, powered by chatbots and human guided experts, wherein users can send a message to Mezi whenever they need to buy something and Mezi will take care of the research, present users with options and help them place the order.

According to Mezi, 25% of all purchases made through it are for travel bookings, 21% for fashion items, and 15% for gifts for friends and family.

“We see the next generation of unicorns emerging from the chatbot and artificial intelligence space, and Mezi is trailblazing this market by developing core technologies that produce the most humanistic and engaging experience of any chatbot to-date. Our investment in Mezi reflects our belief in their core technology and their ability to shatter the vending-machine experience of past bots and provide a clearly superior product that delivers a truly personal experience for every user,” said Ash Lilani, managing partner and co-founder of Saama Capital.

The platform is currently available on iOS and through SMS.

“Mezi has created an intuitive platform that helps consumers unlock something we all want—a personal assistant in the palm of your hand, whether you need to book travel, purchase a gift or buy a new wardrobe. The underlying technology behind Mezi’s bot combines the human touch with the power of artificial intelligence. We’re pleased to support Mezi with this investment,” said Rohit Bodas, partner, American Express Ventures.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.