Artificial intelligence-powered personal shopping assistant startup Mezi has raised $9 million in a Series A funding round from existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and new investors Saama Capital and American Express Ventures.

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Mezi raises $9 million from Nexus Venture, Saama Capital, others
Artificial intelligence-powered personal shopping assistant startup Mezi has raised $9 million in
a Series A funding round from existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and new investors
Saama Capital and American Express Ventures.
The investment will be used to support the company’s growth and accelerate Mezi’s product and
artificial intelligence technology development around conversational commerce, natural
language processing and machine learning, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
eTailing India Thought Corner
Artificial Intelligence – The next wave of e-commerce
The key to unlocking the next wave of e-commerce revolution could be the arrival of artificial
intelligence (AI). The meeting of AI and e-commerce could not only transform the way jillions
of online transactions are done, but also change the in-store purchase behaviors which are
influenced by digital interactions.

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The AI technology is still a nascent concept in the industry and attracting funds will take time.
“It was not easy to get funding to grow the business; we were rejected by more than 100
investors before we got funding," says Navneet Sharma, co-founder of Snapshopr, an AI startup.
To clear the air, Vinay Kumar Sankarapu, co-founder of Arya.ai, another AI startup says, “The
biggest threat is hype and unrealistic extrapolations. A correction will follow the over-
expectations.”
However, the realization of AI’s enormous potential to change the way data is understood is
catching up fast across the industries. Neerav Parekh, founder of AI startup ‘Phrazor’ adds,
“Every company has to send performance reports to its employees or customers. The focus of
our venture is to help companies communicate the insights in their data to their people at scale."
Phrazor is aimed at automation and processing of interpreting data and communicating insights.
The advent of machine learning and AI could be disruptive from the conventional way of
working but AI is here to stay.
3 ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) will impact e-commerce
 Search issue:
The average search engine algorithms have limitations on understanding a given search query
due to lack of contextual knowledge, the practical intelligence and natural language expressions.
AI has natural language processing capabilities (NLP) which helps to connect human touch back
into a digital experience.
 Shopping guide:
Search methodology should be such that brands can understand what customers are looking for
online. AI is at the midst of search technology evolution from being passive information
retrievers to incorporating features of proactive personal assistance. For instance, ‘Viv’, an
artificial intelligence assistant developed by the creators of Siri handles a number of complex
requests by performing a multitude of services. It also connects with third-party merchants to
purchase goods and book reservations.
 Analysis and Improvement:

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Doing analysis of information from database created from input data and knowledge
amalgamated from many sources, AI searches would not only provide better and more informed
responses, but also predict customer behavior for future online purchases.