Domestic mobile handset firm Micromax Informatics has invested an undisclosed amount in consumer technology and AI-based startup One Labs to strengthen its device ecosystem.
The flagship product of One Labs is inOne and it gives access to over 50 apps in a 10 MB suite across multiple genres from food, shopping, deals, travel, cabs, news, recharge, games among others, within a single app. Henceforth, Micromax devices will be preloaded with inOne app. This means now users can save up more space on their devices, which in turn will improve the battery life and reduce background activity.
It will further augment the features available to users on its Android platform. Apps that are accessible on inOne platform are Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, Ola, Uber, Zomato, Housejoy, Nearbuy, Urbanclap, BookMyShow and ixigo.
One Labs has also developed a chatbot or AI enabled voice One Assistant, which will also be pre-embedded in Micromax devices. One Labs believes that in terms of usage and popularity, its voice assistant will surpass Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri.
“A large chunk of our efforts are now concentrated on coming up with products and services which act as solutions to the needs of the fast-evolving consumers. Given the fact that artificial intelligence is the future of device ecosystem, we look forward to seeing how the partnership with One Labs will enable us to enhance user experience even further,” Vikas Jain, Co-founder, Micromax Informatics said in a statement.
Rahul Gupta, CEO and Co-founder, One Labs said, “We are proud to be working with Micromax to bring over 100 million Micromax consumers closer to our compelling platform. While phone hardware is getting smarter and more efficient, we wanted to make apps smarter. Like Mobiles replaced pagers, we foresee that in a few years all in one app like inOne will replace the need to download separate apps for different use cases.”
After 10 successful years, Micromax had set up a $100 million (Rs 680 crore) fund in early 2017, aimed at investing in consumer internet companies across the world that are relevant to the Indian market. The independent fund, Orbis Capital, will raise money from both private equity firms and pension funds among other investors, both in India and overseas.
The world’s 10th largest handset maker had started its investment programme in 2014 and made a strategic investment in Gaana.com, ixigo, MiMedia, Zapr, Scandid among others. Apart from India, the company claimed in a report that they will also be interested to invest in companies in the US, Europe and Israel.
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