Reliance Jio just added an Alexa-like product to its cart via Haptik

• Reliance Industries-backed Haptik has acquired Buzzo.ai.
• Buzzo.ai’s functionality works on similar lines as that of Amazon’s Alexa.
• The idea is to simulate a real-life sales associate for commerce.

Reliance Industries-backed Haptik has acquired Buzzo.ai, a voice conversational commerce platform for an undisclosed amount. This is expected to power Reliance Jio, the telecom venture owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, and, possibly, his upcoming e-commerce venture.

Buzzo.ai works on similar lines of Alexa, where through an Artificial Intelligence assistant it can understand a customer's needs through conversation. It then comes up with the most relevant recommendations that match the specific inputs and explains why that may be the best choice.

The acquisition of Buzzo.ai by Haptik is expected to complement Reliance Jio’s $100 million bet, for an 87% stake, on Haptik made in April this year. “Essentially as a company the way we are set up is that we have our business which involves delivering customer experience and AI solutions for all our clients. And Reliance Jio is the biggest client. That’s how buzzo will be extended, the solutions will be given to all our clients including Jio, through which we hope to generate a ton of business,” Aakrit Vaish, co-founder and CEO, Haptik told Business Insider.

Vaish admits that Buzzo.ai’s functionality is like an Alexa. However, how it will be taken to market might be different, according to him. “It will be driven into the B2B market to our clients, who will further implement it for their customers,” he said.

Haptik currently has over 50 clients across the US and India. Vaish hopes to double their business in the next year thanks to backing by Reliance and subsequent acquisitions.