Telecommunications major Bharti Airtel Ltd has acquired a 10% stake in Waybeo Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd, making the Thiruvananthapuram company its latest bet via its Airtel Startup Accelerator Program.
Waybeo is an artificial intelligence-based deep analytics platform focussed on cloud telephony. It develops tools for the enterprise segment and offers products such as AI-based call tracking for sales and marketing purposes.
In a statement, Airtel said the move will help Waybeo enlarge its distribution reach while giving the telecom firm access to its existing and in-development technologies. It didn’t disclose the financial details of the transaction.
“Cloud technologies are transforming the way businesses serve and delight their customers,” Bharti Airtel chief product officer Adarsh Nair said.
Waybeo is at least the fourth startup in which Bharti Airtel has picked up a stake. In May, it bought 10% in Voicezen India Pvt Ltd, a startup focused on conversational artificial intelligence technologies.
Airtel also purchased a stake in fitness-focused startup Spectacom Global Pvt. Ltd earlier this year and invested in Vahan Inc. last year.
The telecommunications firm says that companies that receive investments through its Startup Accelerator Program receive advantages including access to its online and offline distribution network, large customer base, infrastructure and technological support, and collaborations with the company’s strategic partners.
Its investments come in the wake of several other large companies across sectors making strategic bets on firms using frontier-technologies.
Perhaps the biggest example of this is Reliance Industries Ltd, whose Jio Platforms has scored massive investments from the likes of Google, Facebook, Vista Equity Partners and Silver Lake Partners.
One of the bigger moves RIL made in the space was to acquire the AI-based conversational platform Haptik Inc. The acquisition of the 87% stake in Haptik for a total of $100 million was made through wholly-owned unit Reliance Jio Digital Services Ltd.
Another example is information technology services major Cognizant, which has made at least seven acquisitions this year. Its most recent M&A move came earlier this month, when it announced that it had bought 10th Magnitude, a cloud specialist firm focussed on Microsoft’s Azure platform.
