Why AB InBev is wagering on fintech and metaverse, CIO News, ET CIO

By Dhrumil Dhakan

Beverage and bottling works industry is known for its art of lager making yet not such a huge amount for their utilization of innovation in offering an extraordinary client experience. However, Covid pandemic flipped around things when lockdowns the country over made a significant hit the drink industry.

As the pandemic hit, AB-InBev was left with no decision except for to take deny in innovation. Considering innovation to be an upper hand, AB InBev put intensely in innovation by making items and AI/ML arrangements, which help the organization in making more touchpoints for their clients and furthermore further develop their base line.

“So, AI and ML helps us optimize our operations, it helps us optimize our collections, Order To Cash process and also drive better ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment)product offering,” said Pritam Dutta, Global Director – Fintech Ventures and Innovation, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

It’s unbelievable a refreshment organization to get into the fintech space. In any case, AB InBev would have rather not left any stone unturned to develop its market. “Fintech initiatives, which we identified as a key customer need, have become an offering, with the focus on small and medium businesses, so through that marketplace, we provide multiple products, our products, and some ancillary products. It’s direct to customer platform and I can also provide financial services through that,” Dutta made sense of.

Elaborating on the monetary tech being used at the organization Dutta commented, “We have invested in creating platforms through which we can do better business with the customers, we have invested in a fintech venture through which we can create a 360-degree financial relationship with the customers and we have also co-build some data and analytics products, for which we are collaborating with some other companies.”

The association has additionally fabricated a wallet to assist its clients with tending to cash-related difficulties like making installments. As indicated by Dutta, these items and fintech speculations have permitted AB InBev to make a monetary biological system, making business more straightforward for little and medium businesses.

While they have figured out how to set up this monetary environment, it is vital to get what provoked them to do as such. “Most of our customers are small and medium businesses and most of them had working capital issues because bars & pubs were closed, there was a lot of challenge in terms of revenue, so through the setup that we had here in India, we were able to identify the challenges with the customers not being able to pay in time, with having large overdue, etc. and we were able to manage it by putting a combination of process overhaul and technology intervention,” Dutta said.

This assisted them with understanding that clients need admittance to credit, for which they might actually move toward the banks or other monetary establishments however the rates and the interaction may be awkward, and this incited them to fill this hole and offer the monetary types of assistance that the organizations need.

Beer Garage Accelerator Program

Talking about their innovation and advancement arm, Dutta added, “We have Beer Garage, which is our external innovation arm which researches and brings new technology to ABI and we also have also created platforms like Innovation Garage through which we collaborate with some other companies in building these technologies together.”

Beer Garage Accelerator program, a worldwide Program run from India, had over 1500+ applications last year and recognized Key accomplices in regions like FinTech, Logistics and Digital Transformation.

From 1500 new companies, AB InBev distinguished 11 new companies across AI, brain science, and social trade through their Beer Garage Accelerator program and afterward construct plans of action with the new businesses and are presently during the time spent increasing them across the globe producing critical business value.

Further making sense of the idea, Dutta said, “It’s a program through which startups apply, we give them some challenges, and the ones that get selected, get supported by us and our partners.” It’s an enhancing venture with admittance to Top class Mentors and Venture capital Funds.

Aerchain, part of the 2020 associate of the Beer Garage Accelerator and as Procurement Platform was as of late raised $3 million at a valuation of $30 m post moving on from the Accelerator programme.

He proceeded, “We felt that not everything can be done by the company, it’s always good to work with partners who have specialized skills who can help drive the Value Generation agenda forward.”

Sales and marketing

Dutta expressed that innovation additionally assumes a significant part in their deals and promoting office. For the equivalent, he added, “We have invested extensively in acquiring first-party data, through which we are able to build stronger relationships with the customers.” Through the Beer carport Accelerator program, Dutta expressed that ABI steered World’s first visual substance and designated shrewd Ads across OTT and Youtube.

Again as a feature of the Accelerator program, ABI as of late tried an innovation that assists them with distinguishing how a customer will respond when they see their commercial, on how their cerebrum waves will work, contingent upon the examination of which, they can comprehend how compelling the specific advert is and make more powerful notices.

As a piece of our Beer Garage Incubator program, we dealt with an issue with how our brands are doing on Retail retires. They have contributed and made a restrictive innovation through which they can catch the developments of our brands, how are they playing, and get ongoing investigation of how their brands are doing.

The Beer Garage group additionally sent off a virtual horse racing in Metaverse and is one of the early adopters of NFT and Blockchain Technology. Pritam likewise referenced that the organization is sending off the 2022 release of Beer Garage Accelerator on the twentieth of April.