Walmart Labs, the local product
development division of US retail giant Walmart has acqui-hired Delaware based
data analytics and machine learning startup Int.AI, its second acqui-hire in
India in three months, as it looks to strengthen its engineering team.
Int.AI was founded in 2016. It
analyses data and shares it with targeted users over email as well as team
messenger tools like Slack. In September, Walmart Labs brought the entire team
of engineers from Bengaluru-based Appsfly onboard, which built a
system for micro apps to get hosted and streamed on any platform.
Walmart move highlights its keen
urge to deepen its presence in the country. The US-based retailer has been
investing heavily in the country this year, starting with the game changing $16
Bn acquisition of Indian ecommerce unicorn Flipkart. The company also opened
its 23rd wholesale store in Visakhapatnam recently. It
claims 19 of these centres have already achieved break even.
Globally,
acqui-hiring has been used by large companies to get talent in a new domain it
looks to test waters. In 2017, Google acquired Halli Labs, a four-month-old
startup out of Bengaluru that was developing artificial intelligence and
machine learning solutions. In October, Airtel acqui-hired Authme ID services,
an AI-based solution firm.
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