In an unusual move by a venture firm, Fresco Capital is organizing a hackathon in Pune on Friday in collaboration with e-Zest Solutions Limited. Stephen Forte, its managing partner, states it as a strategy to understand the developer system in India.
He said, “The way the developer talent in the country has evolved is tremendous. In the last 15 years I’ve seen it go from being a cheap alternative to being full-fledged partners on a par with the best.”
Forte has been visiting India often as part of the five startups he has helmed so far. also a mentor and on the selection panel for the Thiel Foundation’s 20 under 20 programme.
This move is partly to tap into this talent that Menlo Park, California-based Fresco Capital is conducting the hackathon, with a firm focus on bots. “The key reason is to learn more about the Indian market and developer system, as well as gain expertise in bots,” said Forte.
He further added that the industry has just scratched the surface of the potential of bots, which are largely restricted at present to replacing the chat function in messengers or customer service inter faces.
About 300 developers are expected to build bots on the Facebook, Slack and Microsoft platform, giving both Fresco Capital and eZest Solutions access to some new ideas in machine learning, artificial intelligence and bots.
