Gone are the days of poring over online forums and blogs to understand product features, question the authenticity of five-star marketplace reviews, and compare dozens of products before zeroing in on one. Agents powered by AI are trained to do it all for you. As ecommerce entered the age of agentic commerce, Ranjith Boyanapalli took the plunge, with his Flash AI last September. The former Flipkart executive launched it as an AI-powered shopping assistant that helps in personalised product discovery and research. Bengaluru-based Flash had earlier raised $12.5 Mn across two rounds. The company’s cap table features the likes of Blume Ventures and PeerCapital as well as high-profile angel investors such as Binny Bansal, Lalit Keshre, and Kunal Shah. Its earlier avatar – a centralised inbox for power shoppers – was entirely different from the latest flagship AI venture. The market opportunity for AI-powered ecommerce is huge. Agentic commerce has the potential to contribute $3-5 Tn in revenue to the global B2C retail market, as 64% Indian consumers reportedly use AI tools in their purchase journey, beating the stats of many other countries. Boyanapalli designed his Flash AI not for closing a transaction, but for the pre-purchase stage, when the… Read MoreInc42 Media
