Canada-based mobile messaging firm Kik acquired a startup called Blynk, maker of BlynkStyle, a personal fashion stylist app that is now a chat bot on Kik.

BlynkStyle helps users discover outfit ideas and shop for clothes and Kik believes the firm’s team can help it “build more great chat-based experiences for Kik’s teen users” because “fashion is one of the key areas that Kik users love to talk about.”

“The Blynk team will help us further delve into the world of bots and personal chat assistants on Kik,” it added.

Talking to a bot on Kik is “just like talking to a friend – except the ‘friend’ on the other end of the conversation is a computer programme,” Kik explained.

The bot brings its swipe-based look selection mechanism into the chat and pairs it with options to rate outfits, take quizzes and buy clothes.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Earlier this year, China’s internet giant Tencent invested $50 million in Kik, which said it is looking to translate the success of Tencent’s Chinese service WeChat in a western market.

The Kik messaging platform has around 240 million users and is popular with teenagers in the US.