🇮🇳 Roundup: Gupshup acquires conversational AI firm

Startups in India including VideoVerse, Financepeer, Loop, Everstage, Rigi Club, and Pescafresh have raised at least US$127.8 million in disclosed funding in the last 24 hours from international and local investors.

Here’s a snapshot of the fundraising:

Here’s some important tech news from India today:

Gupshup acquires conversational AI firm

Bengaluru-based AskSid provides conversational AI services to ecommerce and retail companies across the world.

The startup, backed by the likes of former Google executive Rajan Anandan and Mindtree co-founder Krishnakumar Natarajan, operates in more than 25 countries and supports over 100 languages. It works with firms such as AkzoNobel, Danone, Wolford, and Akris.

AskSid is Gupshup’s fourth acquisition in the last seven months. It had just acquired Singapore-headquartered Active.ai and bought Knowlarity, a cloud communications firm, in February. In September 2021, Gupshup purchased Dotgo, a business messaging firm.

Hesa snaps up online marketplace GullyBuy

Hesa paid an undisclosed sum for GullyBuy, a Pune-based startup that focuses on hyperlocal marketplaces.

The acquisition will help Hesa strengthen its presence in rural geographies and empower village-based entrepreneurs.

Founded in 2020, Hesa helps connect businesses with the rural population for services such as buying and selling, marketing and promotions, and more. GullyBuy, which was established in 2019, helps brands, distributors, and resellers set up their own private-label online marketplaces.

Pine Labs adds new people to senior leadership

Varun Varma, who served as senior director and head of international strategy at PayPal, was named as Pine Labs’ head of the strategy, and corporate development.

Jagriti Bhattacharya has been also appointed as the company’s general counsel. She was previously chief counsel for South Asia at Thomson Reuters.