Payments service provider Paytm,
run by One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd, has acquired consumer behavior prediction
and recommendation platform Shifu for $8 Million. Delhi based Shifu, run by Signal
Inc. started operations in August 2012. It mines the smartphone usage patterns
of users and makes personalized recommendations to them.
Shifu has been quite popular as an
intelligent task managing application. This acquisition will give further
impetus to focus on Artificial Intelligence. By predicting user behavior based
on past usage, location and other data points, Paytm platform will be able to
offer relevant recommendations to users. Paytm will be able to offer a highly
intuitive and personalized experience to users.
Shifu is a free task managing app.
Once the app is installed, it analyses the usage patterns of the device owner
and makes a variety of suggestions based on a predictive algorithm. Paytm has
been actively investing in startups. The company in October invested in
transportation app Jugnoo, in Hyperlocal deals platform ‘Little’ in July, and
in logistics startup LogiNext.
Noida based Paytm currently has a
user base of more than 100 Million. The company is backed by investors
including Alibaba Group, Saif Partners, Sapphire Venture and Silicon Valley
Bank. Paytm which started out as payments solutions providers ventured into
e-commerce in May 2014. In November, Paytm acquired home service marketplace
Near.in for an undisclosed amount to focus on O2O and Hyperlocal commerce.
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