Bharti Airtel has acquired a strategic investment in Aqilliz, a Singapore-based blockchain technology startup. The telecom major did not share any financial details of the deal.
The Singapore-headquartered blockchain-based digital marketing company offers a patented hybrid platform called Atom, which allows companies to engage with customers by showing them relevant content through a distributed digital ledger.
Typically, Airtel will use Aqilliz's platform for its Adtech (Airtel Ads), digital entertainment (Wynk Music & Airtel Xstream) and digital marketplace (Airtel Thanks App).
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Application of blockchain tech in more areas
Aqilliz provides middleware technology that helps build a collaborative digital marketing ecosystem that is interoperable by all its players. The company claims that companies can perform advanced analytics on top of the platform, while preserving the privacy of user data.
Adarsh Nair, CEO, Airtel Digital, in a statement, said: "Blockchain technology is maturing and we see its application across areas such as adtech, creator economy, and loyalty programs. We are thrilled to have Aqilliz join our Startup Accelerator Program and be part of Airtel’s digital innovation factory."
Gowthaman Ragothaman, Founding CEO, Aqilliz said: "Legacy customer engagement, ad tech and marketing technologies are built for centralised databases. The future of the digital economy is already pivoting to managing value exchanges between brands, platforms and the consumer. Aqilliz’s patented technology will enable Airtel to capture and carry this value exchange in the form of consent and provenance across the digital supply chain."
Airtel Startup Accelerator Program invests in early stage start-ups working on technologies that have relevance to Airtel’s business offerings. In addition to funding, the program offers mentorship from Airtel’s leadership team and access to Airtel’s global strategic partners.
Recently, Airtel launched the ‘Airtel India Startup Innovation Challenge’ in partnership with Invest India. Early stage Indian startups were invited to demonstrate solutions for 5G, IoT, Cloud Communications, Digital Advertising and Digital Entertainment. 10 winners will get the opportunity to access Airtel’s digital engineering ecosystem to co-create solutions and select few will be inducted into the Airtel Startup Accelerator Program, the company said in its statement.
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