Matrix Partners India backs chatbot developer Anaek

Venture capital firm Matrix Partners India has invested an undisclosed amount of seed funding in Anaek, which develops chatbots. The funds raised will be utilized by the startup for growth and product innovation.

Anaek, which seeks to drive productivity and efficiency through collaboration, has a suite of intelligent chatbots, which are built on top of Slack, an instant messaging app, to simplify complicated workflows like time-off, employee time sheets, expense reporting and other sundry office tasks.

The startup was founded by Ujjwal Grover and Kanav Abrol, who have an engineering and product background.

Workplace communication is being transformed by instant messaging apps such as Slack, reinventing how employees interact. With the consumerization of IT well underway, businesses are increasingly focused on simplicity and productivity gains when buying new software. Anaek delivers on ease of use through its conversational products that let employees accomplish complex workflows through simple chat messages. Instead of logging onto a website or installing a new app, employees simply talk to Anaek’s chatbots right inside Slack and complete tasks instantly.

“The conversational nature of Anaek’s software allows users to learn our software intuitively - by simply talking to our chatbots. No new apps to install and no forms to fill!” says Ujjwal Grover, co-founder, Anaek.

Anaek’s products include three chatbots - attendance management and time tracking bot AttendanceBot, expense tracking bot ExpenseTron and OfficeAmp, a bot to manage a workplace by giving employees a one stop shop.

“Instant messaging has permeated workplace communication across markets, paving the way for seamless employee interactions. Anaek’s enterprise chatbots help employees complete routine business processes in a simple and efficient manner,” said Tarun Davda, managing director, Matrix Partners India.

Matrix Partners India, which invests in companies focused on the Indian enterprise and consumer market at the seed, early and early growth stages has Rs 4,500 crore under management. It has invested in firms such as Ola (local transportation), Quikr (online classifieds), Practo (digital health platform), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Mswipe (mobile point of sale or POS), Limeroad (mobile social commerce marketplace), Treebo (digital hotel chain) and Belong (recruitment platform), among others.