A strange new beginning

The Reverie Revenant

Does the recent acquisition of Reverie Technologies by Reliance herald a success or failure?

Sumanth Raghavendra, 30 Apr 2019

90% of new Indian internet users over the next five years would be more conversant with local Indian languages than English. Reverie was struggling to reach them

Reliance, for once, has little expertise with local language. And Reverie’s core competence is local language support

Using Reverie, Reliance can build an ad engine that is primed for local languages—keyboard data and voice inputs can be analysed and monetised

Does this make Reverie a zombie startup? Or a Phoenix, rising from its ashes?

Revenant (noun), one who has returned, as if from the dead.

Have you watched Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar-winning performance in The Revenant?

Have you ever wondered what the title meant?

Well, the word “revenant” is from the French word “revenir”, meaning “to return”.

AUTHOR

Sumanth Raghavendra

Sumanth is a serial entrepreneur with more than eighteen years experience in running startups. He is currently the founder of Deck App Technologies, a Bangalore-based startup attempting to re-imagine productivity software for the Post-PC era. Sumanth’s columns appear regularly in leading publications. He holds MBA degrees from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, USA.

View Full Profile

Available exclusively to subscribers of The Ken India

This story is a part of The Ken India edition. Subscribe. Questions?

What sets The Ken apart?

Others tell you what. We tell you the ‘So What?’

Read articles that decode the most significant shifts happening around business, technology, startups and healthcare. 1000+ articles for subscribers of the India edition. 150+ articles for subscribers of the Southeast Asia edition.

Narratives that help you connect the dots

Curated collections of our best articles organised by companies, sectors or transformations.

Become part of an active community

Tens of thousands of subscribers, working at the world’s most successful companies, have made The Ken into a daily reading habit.

So much journalism in India is superficial.

Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.

Sid Talwar / Co-Founder and Partner / Lightbox Venture Capital

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on being in the know at all times.

A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn't enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us

Kiran Jonnalagadda / Co-founder / HasGeek and Internet Freedom Foundation

This is a brilliant piece. Very well researched and explained.

The policy & execution is in quite a mess. the flip flops on KYC, the insidious use (& abuse) of consent, the hopeless competition with zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts - all brought out starkly. Congratulations!

Ajit Ranade / Chief Economist / Aditya Birla Group

Thanks to The Ken, we have articulate, original & relevant stories

that shape our understanding of businesses around us. With placements around the corner, Ken is a great resource to prepare and ace our interviews.

Sandeep Ganesh / Student Body President / ISB 2018

An article from The Ken has become an intrinsic part of my daily news diet.

Nandan Nilekani / Former Chairman / UIDAI

I look forward to Ken's incisive reporting, rigorous research, and contrarian but always logical viewpoints

Deep Kalra / Group CEO / MakeMyTrip

The Ken is my daily guide to intelligent business journalism like never before.

Kapil Chopra / Former President / Oberoi Hotels

Unlock a world of subscriber privileges.
Subscribe now

Exclusive Access

Read 1000+ stories in the Indian edition

App access

Get access to our subscriber-only Android and iOS apps

Comments

Engage with the subscriber community

Priority Access

Early and exclusive access to The Ken’s products

Questions?

What is The Ken?

The Ken is a subscription-only business journalism website and app that provides coverage across two editions - India and Southeast Asia.

What kind of stories do you write?

We publish sharp, original and reported stories on technology, business and healthcare. Our stories are forward-looking, analytical and directional — supported by data, visualisations and infographics.

We use language and narrative that is accessible to even lay readers. And we optimise for quality over quantity, every single time.

What do I get if I subscribe?

For subscribers of the India edition, we publish a new story every weekday, and a newsletter on Saturday.

For subscribers of the Southeast Asia edition, we publish a new story three days a week, and a newsletter on Friday.

The annual subscription will get you complete, exclusive access to our archive of previously published stories for your edition, along with access to our subscriber-only mobile apps, our premium comment sections and several other gifts and benefits.

Does a subscription to the India edition grant me access to Southeast Asia stories? Or vice-versa?

Afraid not. Each edition is separate with its own subscription plan. The India edition publishes stories focused on India. The Southeast Asia edition is focused on Southeast Asia. We may occasionally cross-publish stories from one edition to the other.

Do you offer an all-access joint subscription for both editions?

Not yet. If you’d like to access both editions, you’ll have to purchase two subscriptions separately - one for India and the other for Southeast Asia.

Do you offer any discounts?

No. We have a zero discounts policy.

Is there a free trial I can opt for?

We don’t offer any trials, but you can sign up for a free account which will give you access to the weekly free story, our archive of free stories and summaries of the paid stories. You can stay on the free account as long as you’d like.

Do you offer refunds?

We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.

I am facing some trouble purchasing a subscription. What can I do?

Please write to us at [email protected] detailing the error or queries.

The Reverie Revenant