The Maya of Crayon Data; Ratan Tata invests in start-up

MUMBAI, INDIA: Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has invested an unspecified amount in Crayon Data, a Chennai-based start-up.

Crayon’s flagship product Maya is a personalization engine that facilitates choice delivery for the banking, hotel and digital media verticals.

The start-up is now developing a global consumer taste fabric, which currently maps choice across 15 categories by using complex machine-learning techniques and proprietary cognitive thinking algorithms. This taste fabric is then mapped to internal (enterprise) and external (online) data sets to provide a set of personalized choices to consumers.

Crayon’s unique proposition has resulted in multiple clients across international markets, in the past year alone, the company said in a press release.

The start-up plans to use the funds for product enhancements (new versions) of Maya and its geographical expansion in key markets like the APAC, Britain, Europe, and the US.

"Given Tata's experience and knowledge of our key focus verticals, we are excited by his validation of our vision. We hope to tap into his experience as we scale globally and fulfil our ambitions of mapping the world's choices," said Srikant Sastri, Co-founder, Crayon.

As an alumni of the state-run Indian Institute of Management-Kolkata (IIM-K), Sastri and Suresh Shankar co-founded Crayon in 2012 and subsequently raised Rs 47 crore from institutional investors Jungle Ventures and Spring Seeds in Series A funding.