Airtel acquires strategic stake in blockchain technology startup Aqilliz

Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it has acquired a strategic stake in Aqilliz – a Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) Company under the Airtel Startup Accelerator Program, subject to applicable statutory approvals. Singapore-based Aqilliz has developed a patented hybrid blockchain platform, Atom that integrates differential privacy and federated learning on a distributed digital ledger. This allows brands to create secure and consent-based solutions to engage with customers in a rapidly evolving digital economy that’s becoming increasingly decentralised.

Airtel aims to deploy Aqilliz’s advanced blockchain technologies at scale across its fast growing adtech (Airtel Ads), digital entertainment (Wynk Music & Airtel Xstream) and digital marketplace (Airtel Thanks App) offerings.

Adarsh Nair, CEO – Airtel Digital, said: “We, at Airtel, are deeply researching new technologies that drive the future of a digitally connected India. This relentless focus on innovation is also enabling us to unlock new growth engines within Airtel. Blockchain technology is maturing and we see its application across areas such as Adtech, Creator Economy, and Loyalty Programs.”        

Airtel Startup Accelerator Program invests in early stage startups working on technologies that have adjacencies to Airtel’s business offerings. “The Program gives startups the opportunity to deploy their technologies and applications at a massive scale, which includes 340M+ retail customers and over 1M+ business. In addition to funding, the Program offers mentorship from Airtel’s leadership team and access to Airtel’s global strategic partners,” the company said in a statement. 

Gowthaman Ragothaman, Founding CEO – Aqilliz said: “We are extremely excited to be a part of Airtel’s digital innovation play and bring this first of its kind blockchain technology to India. 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.”

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. A total of 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.