“We are absolutely delighted that Maya has made into the top 25 of the Watson Mobile Developer Challenge. It validates our vision that big data can meaningfully simplify people's choices as well as enhance enterprise business," said Suresh Shankar, Founder of Crayon Data

Maya utilizes Crayon’s proprietary choice engine algorithms that crunch data on people’s tastes, influences, behavior and context to deliver the most relevant four to six choices on a consumer’s Smartphone on both iOS and Android. Maya could become an indispensable personal choice assistant, coupled with the power of Watson’s cognitive and natural language processing ability. Maya will be available as a dual platform—a direct-to-consumer app and an enterprise version for businesses using Crayon’s choice guide in better serving consumers.

The product from the startup analyses graphs, generated from comparing billions of consumer taste points and hundreds of thousands of cross-category linkages to offer consumers the right choice. “I believe Maya will help enterprises build lasting, relevant relationships with their customers for more sustainable business growth. I look forward to working with IBM in bringing simpler choices to the world,” added Shankar.