Rare Carat
 | |
| Industry | E-commerce |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2016 |
| Founder | Ajay Anand (CEO) |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Products | Diamonds |
| Website |
rarecarat |
Rare Carat is a New York City-based startup and e-commerce platform for buying diamonds and diamond rings. The company has been described as "Kayak for diamonds."[1][2][3]
The company has distinguished itself by utilizing data science and technologies such as blockchain and AI-driven chatbots to optimize the performance of its platform and user experience.[4]
Background
Rare Carat launched in October 2016.[5] His own challenging and frustrating experience shopping for an engagement ring in 2015 inspired Wharton Business School graduate Ajay Anand to found the company. The goal for Anand "was to create a platform that made comparison shopping simple, saving future grooms-to-be from the tedious job of inputting the same search parameters across a number of sites, for days and days on end."[1] Anand says Rare Carat has the capacity to disrupt the market for the diamonds by bringing greater transparency to an industry that has traditionally relied on opacity.[4]
In April 2017, six months after the company's launch, Rare Carat announced that its platform had powered more than one million diamond searches and "driven tens of millions of dollars of diamond sales."[5]
Business platform
Rare Carat does not actually physically stock and sell the diamonds. Rather, its platform offers prospective diamond buyers comparison shopping and price transparency by connecting them to diamond retailers.[6] The platform utilizes IBM Watson technology "to compare the price of diamonds across various online retailers, including Blue Nile, Brilliant Earth, and Costco."[1] Rare Carat has also partnered with Everledger, a blockchain-based diamond ledger, to verify the certification and transaction history of the diamonds its vendors are offering, as well as ensure they are conflict free.[6][7]
In February 2017, Rare Carat introduced an IBM Watson-powered artificial intelligence chatbot called "Rocky" to assist novice diamond buyers through the daunting processing of purchasing a diamond. As part of the IBM Global Entrepreneur Program, Rare Carat received the assistance of IBM in the development of the Rocky Chat Bot.[8][9][10]
Rare Carat utilizes user search data to show which types of diamond shapes, sizes, price points, and other attributes are currently the most popular.[11][12]
References
- 1 2 3 "This Diamond Startup Wants To Change the Way You Buy An Engagement Ring". Forbes. October 4, 2016.
- ↑ "Forget 'Diamonds Are Forever': Millennials Want to Buy Diamonds on Their Own Terms". WNYC NPR. February 14, 2017.
- ↑ "The Inside Story of the "Kayak for Diamonds"". JCK. October 13, 2016.
- 1 2 "Spotlight on: Rare Carat, Digital.NYC's Startup to Watch for November 2016". Digital.NYC. November 1, 2016.
- 1 2 "Rare Carat Hits 1 Million Searches; Refinery29 Helps Explore Which States Spend the Most". PRNewswire. April 27, 2017.
- 1 2 "Diamonds Are Forever: How One Startup Is Disrupting A Static Industry". Silicon NYC. February 21, 2017.
- ↑ "Diamonds and Ethics". Rare Carat. October 6, 2016.
- ↑ "Rare Carat Releases World's First Artificial Intelligence Jeweler Using IBM Watson Technology". PRNewswire. February 28, 2017.
- ↑ "Rare Carat’s Watson-powered chatbot will help you put a diamond ring on it". TechCrunch. February 15, 2017.
- ↑ "10 ways you may have already used IBM Watson". VentureBeat. March 10, 2017.
- ↑ "How Much People Really Spend On Engagement Ring Rocks, State By State". Refinery29. May 6, 2017.
- ↑ "Our Data". Rare Carat.