Snapdeal to invest Rs 637 cr in R&D

Investment to be made over a period of three years in its Bangalore-based Multimedia Research Lab

In line with its focus to deploy technology-based solutions to improve the shopping experience on its portal, e-commerce site Snapdeal plans to invest $100 million (Rs 637 crore) in its Bengaluru-based Multimedia Research Lab over the next three years. The lab has come out with its first product Findmystyle.in — a website that uses machine learning and data analysis to help customers pick products.  

Snapdeal’s chief product officer Anand Chandrasekaran said the company has focused on building in-house technology solutions.

“We are a technology company with a focus on building services and products that make lives of our consumers simpler and convenient. Findmystyle.in is powered by advanced computer vision and machine learning algorithms,” Chandrasekaran said.

 

Findmystyle will analyse the customers’ browsing and purchase patterns by using technology solutions, smart algorithms to predict customer needs to offer multiple choices and minimise search. Chandrasekaran added that with the introduction of Findmystyle.in, the company is looking to create an experimental playground and set the base for image modelling, product search and discovery technology. 

“We will continue to work on developing such innovative technology features and products that will further improve the experience for our customers and sellers,” he said.

 

Chandrasekaran, who recently joined Snapdeal from Bharti was also instrumental in overhauling the mobile and app interface of Snapdeal and had said that the company is looking at technologically integrating its recent acquisitions such as mobile recharge startup Freecharge, digital financial services platform, RupeePower and logistics firm, GoJavas.

Snapdeal has over 40 million registered users and more than 1.5 lakh business sellers.

The online marketplace raised about $1 billion last year, including $627 million from Japan's SoftBank and has been in news recently for raising another round of investment of about USD 500 million from Alibaba and Foxconn.