Digital payments startup Razorpay has acquired Gurugram-based Thirdwatch – an AI-powered company specializing in big data to reduce return-to-origin and fraud orders for e-commerce businesses in an all-cash deal.
Details of the deal are not known.
According to industry estimates, the Indian e-commerce industry is expected to reach $150 billion by FY20. Fraud and RTO can result in losses of over $5 billion for these companies, since 4-5% of all orders fall under these categories.
Thirdwatch’s AI-driven solution can empower e-commerce businesses to fight fraud at scale and reduce RTO by a significant margin. The Thirdwatch acquisition will further help us in building core competencies in big data and AI to solve unique business problems across the industry.
Harshil Mathur, Razorpay CEO, said, “The team at Thirdwatch comes with an exceptional understanding and expertise in AI, machine learning and data sciences and together we envision a future where AI will help e-commerce firms not just combat fraud but maintain a competitive advantage and significantly improve profitability. Together, I believe we can help reduce frauds by 30-40% by next year.”
Shashank Agarwal, Founder of Thirdwatch said, “We are really excited to be part of the Razorpay family, and together, we hope to make AI accessible and helpful to every business, amplifying human resourcefulness with intelligent technology”
In India, digital transactions are growing at the fast pace of over 50% every year. While this spells good news for the e-commerce industry, it also means that the threat of fraud and RTO becomes even greater. Indian e-commerce businesses need to nip this problem in the bud and together with Thirdwatch, Razorpay aims to aid them do just that.