Swiggy Acqui-Hires Bengaluru-Based AI Startup Kint.io

Online food ordering and delivery app Swiggy on Monday announced it has acqui-hired Kint.io, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that applies deep learning and computer vision for object recognition in video, for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2014, the Bengaluru-based startup would assist Swiggy in boosting its computer-vision technology and consumer experience.

The founding members of Kint.io, Pavithra Solai Jawahar, and Jagannathan Veeraraghavan, will join the Swiggy team, the company said in a statement.

"The team at Kint.io comes with an exceptional understanding and expertise in AI, machine learning and data sciences. This acqui-hire is part of our strategy to scale our tech prowess by bringing in entrepreneurial teams that can solve unique customer problems, while leveraging the network and resources at Swiggy," said Dale Vaz, Head of Engineering and Data Sciences, Swiggy. He added, "The team joins us at a very exciting time.The focus has never been more intense on building industry-changing technology in AI and other areas."

Kint.io is the first technology-led acqui-hire for Swiggy as it makes investments in its long-term strategy of building AI-first platforms, the company added in its statement.

"We are extremely excited to be a part of the Swiggy family. AI research has leapfrogged this past year but lack of data, cultural biases, inability to adapt to our diversity, has somehow always pulled us back when it comes to applying AI to India-based problems, effectively," said Jawahar and Veeraraghavan. "This is a great opportunity for us to show scale and address a-billion-people problems through AI. We look forward to an interesting innings with Swiggy," they added.