Online food ordering, delivery app Swiggy acqui-hires this Artificial Intelligence start-up

Online food ordering and delivery app Swiggy on Monday announced it has acqui-hired Kint.io, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up that applies deep learning and computer vision for object recognition in video, for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2014, the Bengaluru-based start-up 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. "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. 

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. "AI research has leap-frogged this past year but lack of data, cultural biases and inability to adapt to our diversity has somehow always pulled us back when it comes to applying AI to India-based problems. This is where Swiggy left us stumped," said Jawahar and Veeraraghavan.