Walmart Acquires Predictive Analytics Startup, Inkiru

WalmartLabs, the technology arm of Walmart Global eCommerce, announced this week that they have acquired predictive analytics startup Inkiru, an acquisition that they boast includes a suite of technology, as well as data scientists and infrastructure engineers.

“Inkiru has developed an active learning system that combines real-time predictive intelligence, big data analytics and a customizable decision engine to inform and streamline business decisions,” said WalmartLabs in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

Inkuru’s technology includes their Predictive Intelligence™ platform, which they say ingests such data as transaction information, customer lifecycle events, and external data blended with linkage and time series information from their predictive graph. All of this information is run through Inkiru’s predictive analytics algorithms to provide customized user experiences that help streamline choices as well as provide insight on such things as optimizing supply chain, reducing fraud and improving profits on each interaction.

The announcement follows a series of acquisitions into the WalmartLabs technology arm, including OneOps and Tasty Labs, aiming to strengthen their cloud and social capabilities, respectively.

Aiming at Amazon and the online retail space, Walmart says that their strategy is to focus on building best-in-class ecommerce capabilities. In a recent interview with Forbes, Walmart senior VP, Gibu Thomas explained their strategy, noting that the power of mobile is one of the most disruptive forces that retail will ever see. He says that Walmart is looking to gear up to take advantage of this disruptive wave.

“How we’re going to win… is by building the deepest relationship with our customers,” explained Thomas, noting that they are looking to provide anytime, anywhere seamless access both online and in physical locations. “Everybody is headed towards the same place, which is this hybrid model – you see Amazon announcing things around establishing physical presence with lockers and things like that. We have 4,000 stores around the US… By leveraging data and combining our assets, we feel that we can create a unique experience that nobody else in the marketplace will be able to match.”

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