The AI-driven platform, which was launched in India in August this year, aims to connect professionals, business owners, job-seekers, and hiring managers — providing job opportunities in India and Japan.

The Yenta mobile application was initially launched in 2016 in Japan to connect technology professionals. It currently has users from over 20,000 companies where professionals can network, get a job, and also engage with industry experts for business partnerships. "You swipe right on profiles you're interested in, and if the other person is also interested and swipes right on your profile, you can message, meet up, and submit a review for each other," Toshiyuki Oka, CTO of Atrae Corporation, said.

There is an ever-increasing demand for data science professionals in India and across the globe. In fact, a few years ago, the Harvard Business Review pegged data science as the sexiest job of the 21st century — and rightly so. However, while the demand for automation and digitization is high, the talent pool is scarce. As per a recent survey by Deloitte, more than three in five executives have reported a 'moderate-to-extreme skills gap' in the domain.

"With this initiative, we aim to tap the potential of data scientists in India. On the sidelines of the app launch in India, we have also started a virtual data science competition, encouraging techies to showcase their skills and help us with optimization algorithms for the application. There have been over 1,600 registrations already," said TetsuroMasunaga, Co-founder & CEO of bitgrit.

The 'SwipeToSuccess' competition seeks to develop a model that predicts the compatibility of a pair of users based on their profiles. This will make sure that the app recommends the most linked and suitable profiles to its users.

The competition has attracted as many as 591 optimization algorithms so far. The registered participants can submit as many as three optimization algorithms in a day. The five most talented young minds will be awarded cash prizes worth US$5,000, US$3,000, US$1,000, US$600, and US$400, respectively.

The details of the competition can be viewed here.

The two tech companies have been aggressively investing in several technical competitions and events in India. Recently, it sponsored the technical fest at Thakur College of Engineering and Technology, Mumbai —Zephyr— so as to attract young talent skilled in AI and data science.

About Atrae - Atrae is a Tokyo-based People Tech Company that was formulated in 2003 with a vision to create businesses that expand people's possibilities through technology.

About bitgrit - Founded in 2017, bitgrit is a global data science community-based in Tokyo with over 29,000 data scientists. The AI-driven platform aims to develop data-driven solutions across industries like hospitality, tech, and financial services. The startup has campus ambassadors and partnerships with over 30 universities in India - including the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).