Maruti Suzuki India announced an investment of around Rs 2 crore in Sociograph Solutions Private Limited (SSPL). Maruti Suzuki released a statement saying the investment is part of its Mail initiative, which supports startups with promising mobility solutions. Maruti Suzuki plans to use the Visual Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform of SSPL called Dave.AI, aiming to enhance its customers’ digital sales experience.
The Dave.AI virtual avatars mimic human sales brains for first-ever 3D visualization, helping to enhance customer experience through AI. Analysing the customer journey, the software enables real-time personalised product/brand discovery experience on the web. Dave.AI was the winner of Cohort 2 of Maruti Suzuki’s Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) program.
Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki said, “Maruti Suzuki is committed to empower the mobility startup ecosystem in the country. Towards this, we have undertaken the ambitious Mail program since 2019. Our investment in SSPL demonstrates our resolve towards improving business metrics using contemporary technology. The Maruti Suzuki Innovation Fund is set up with an aim to invest in early-stage startups which are part of Maruti Suzuki programs. Our intent is to encourage innovation and promote the entrepreneurial spirit of the startups. We strongly believe in the philosophy of ‘Innovate – Collaborate and Co-Create’ to develop solutions for the industry and society. Our endeavour to support the startup ecosystem in the country is aligned to Government of India’s #StartupIndia initiative.”
Talking about the investment, Sriram P. H., Co-founder & CEO, Dave.AI and Dr. Ananth, Co-founder & CTO of Dave.AI said, “We are fortunate to get associated with a market leader like Maruti Suzuki, at an early phase of our startup journey. This collaboration immensely helped us by not only validating our concepts, but also learn and imbibe the skills that are required to scale up our operations in a sustainable manner. Post our collaboration with Maruti Suzuki under the MAIL program, we registered 300% growth in revenues and are on track to achieve USD 1 Million annual revenue milestone this financial year.”