Mannatron Tech Pvt. Ltd, which runs emotion AI and engagement analytics platform Lightbulb.ai, on Tuesday said it has secured $1.5 million (around Rs 11.8 crore) in a pre-series funding co-led by Chiratae Ventures and 9Unicorns.
The round also saw participation from investors including Anthill Ventures and VideoVerse.
The Mumbai-based startup plans to deploy the fresh proceeds to deepen the datasets for its machine-learning technology and expand the product offering of emotion and engagement insights.
Founded in 2020 by Ritu Srivastava, Yogesh Sachdeva and Vishal Soni - who earlier built and exited digital health firm Obino - Lightbulb uses computer vision, speech transcription and audio analysis to generate real time emotion ai and engagement analytics for remote interactions.
“We have been supported by some of India's most prestigious early-stage institutional investors, with vast experience in helping deep-tech B2B SAAS companies build and scale global products in international markets,” said Ritu Srivastava, co-founder and chief executive officer of Lightbulb.ai.
Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures India), which has backed homegrown unicorns such as Policybazaar and Lenskart, is one of the oldest venture capital firms in India. Last year, it marked the final close of its fourth fund at $337 million (Rs 2,493 crore) that was oversubscribed by 25%.
“Leveraging an intelligent emotion recognition platform through video interaction, Lightbulb is leading the next wave of innovation in this space,” said Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of Chiratae Ventures India.
“Lightbulb enables businesses to measure emotion data and transmit actionable insights to decision makers in real-time, helping them acquire and retain better,” said Vishal Soni, Co-founder and chief product officer of Lightbulb.
AI-based startups have been garnering investor attention for quite some time lately.
Last month, artificial intelligence-backed customer and field service platform Neuron7 has raised Series A funding round of $10 million (around Rs 53 crore) co-led by Nexus Venture Partners and Battery Ventures.