India’s AI startup ecosystem is blooming with a surge of home-grown engineering talent transforming into founders and builders of AI startups, steering the country away from the “uncanny valley” of Silicon Valley.
Although funding for AI startups in India is somewhat limited when compared to the U.S. and Europe, there is a shift towards investing in areas like generative AI that solve region-specific problems. Startups in India are focusing on integrating local language support to cater to the rising demand from Indian consumers and are exploring new AI use cases to venture into international markets like the U.S.
Despite the challenges, there is a growing interest from both global and local investors in Indian AI startups due to the country’s ability to offer diversified portfolios and navigate geopolitical conflicts affecting other major markets. This has created opportunities for startups in India to develop innovative AI solutions tailored for the local market.
Indian AI startups that have raised the most money
Founder: Bhavish Aggarwal
Total funding raised: $50 million
Key investors: Matrix Partners India
Krutrim, India’s first unicorn AI startup led by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, is making waves with its large language model (LLM) based on Indian languages and English, positioning itself as a pioneer in the space.
Founders: Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar
Total funding raised: $41 million
Key investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners and Khosla Ventures
Sarvam AI, founded by industry veterans Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, is another standout startup in the LLM space, offering full-stack generative AI solutions and partnering with industry giants like Microsoft to bring cutting-edge AI tools to the market.
Founders: Ashwini Asokan and Anand Chandrasekaran
Total funding raised: $57.4 million
Key investors: Avatar Growth Capital, Sequoia Capital and Alpha Wave Global
Mad Street Den, a computer vision startup founded by the visionary duo Ashwini Asokan and Anand Chandrasekaran, is revolutionizing AI solutions for enterprises across diverse sectors, aiming to make AI accessible to people worldwide.
Founders: Jo Aggarwal and Ramakant Vempati
Total funding raised: $25 million
Key investors: HealthQuad, W Health, British International Investment, and Google Assistant Fund
Wysa, a mental health tech startup co-founded by Jo Aggarwal and Ramakant Vempati, is leveraging AI to provide emotionally intelligent therapy through a chatbot, catering to millions of users and addressing mental health needs globally.
Founders: Sharad Sanghi and Anindya Das
Total funding raised: $20 million
Key investors: Matrix Partners India, Nexus Venture Partners and NTTVC
Neysa Networks, spearheaded by tech veteran Sharad Sanghi, is empowering businesses with cutting-edge generative AI platforms and services, ushering in a new era of AI adoption and innovation in India.
Here are some emerging Indian AI startups to watch
Founders: Mahek Mody and Mohit Sharma
Total funding raised: $5.5 million
Key investors: Khosla Ventures and Draper Associates
Upliance AI is revolutionizing home cooking with AI-powered home appliances, offering consumers a unique culinary experience and poised for further growth with plans to raise additional funding.
Founders: Venkata Pingali and Indrayudh Ghoshal
Total funding raised: $2.3 million
Key investor: Blume Ventures
Scribble Data is making waves in the insurance industry with domain-specific AI assistants, empowering insurers to enhance their business capabilities and streamline operations with advanced AI technology.
Founders: Kanishk Shukla and Akshay Gugnani
Total funding raised: $1.3 million
Key investors: Chiratae Ventures, Endiya Partners and Entrepreneur First
Expertia AI is transforming the recruitment process for businesses with AI automation, reducing hiring time and increasing efficiency using proprietary deep-learning algorithms.
Founders: Anuj Srivastava and Priyesh Srivastava
Total funding raised: $1.1 million
Key investors: Silverneedle Ventures, Indian Angel Network and LetsVenture
OnFinance is empowering financial institutions with AI co-pilots, offering a range of solutions from equity research to compliance, and driving innovation in the wealth management sector.
Founders: Shray Arora and Sidharth Sahni
Total funding raised: $550,000
Key investor: Merak Ventures
Helium is transforming e-commerce with AI-driven web stores, offering direct-to-consumer solutions for brands looking to enhance their online presence and engage customers on a deeper level.
Founder: Abhishek Upperwal
Total funding raised: $140,000
Soket Labs is an AI research firm driving innovation with its multilingual LLM, Pragna-1B, and plans to raise further funding to fuel its research and development initiatives.
Founders: Pratik Desai
Kissan AI is revolutionizing the agriculture sector with its GenAI platform AgriCopilot and domain-specific LLMs, positioning itself as a key player in the digital transformation of agriculture and adjacent domains.
Founders: Pawan Prabhat and Paramdeep Singh
Shorthills AI, a bespoke AI solutions provider for enterprises, is spearheading innovation in the AI space with custom tools and services tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses in various sectors.
