The AI ecosystem in India is thriving with a diverse range of companies receiving significant funding. Indian AI companies garnered $1.11 billion across 47 funding rounds in 2022. A notable chunk of these startups (17%) offer conversational AI solutions, while 15% work in computer vision.
This year, over 60 startups sprouted within the country of engineers building native AI solutions for the diverse population. Most of them are using the hybrid approach of building on top of LLM models of OpenAI and LLaMA.
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Here is a list of the most exciting AI startups and companies to look forward to in 2024.
Sarvam AI
Sarvam AI, a startup founded in July this year, has recently gained attention for its $41 million funding round to develop large language models focusing on Indian languages.
Founders Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar started Sarvam, focusing on building indigenous AI models that support various Indian languages and voice-first interfaces. Their first model, OpenHathi v.01, was recently announced.
The company aims to break language barriers and democratise AI, particularly catering to India’s diverse linguistic landscape. Focused on building LLMs with support for Indian languages, Sarvam aims to provide a platform for businesses to utilise these models.
CoRover
The company was founded in 2016 by Ankush Sabharwal, Manav Gandotra, and Kunal Bhakhri. CoRover specialises in AI chatbots to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience in businesses. CoRover’s technology is focused on creating human-centric conversational AI platforms that are secure, scalable, and reliable.
This technology includes patent-pending advancements based on AI, ML, NLP, AR, and VR, and is capable of powering multi format (VideoBot, VoiceBot, ChatBot) and multilingual (supporting over 100 languages) solutions. CoRover’s solutions are aimed at improving customer engagement and operational efficiency for businesses in various sectors.
Krutrim AI
Krutrim AI, referred to as India’s first full-stack AI solution, was unveiled by Ola’s chief, Bhavish Aggarwal. Krutrim has raised $24 million in debt from Matrix Partners, also a shareholder of Ola Electric. However, Aggarwal clarified that Krutrim is a separate entity from Ola.
The platform, which shows similarities to OpenAI’s ChatGPT but with a greenish UI/UX, is claimed to outperform GPT-4 in various Indic languages. It’s trained on 2 trillion tokens and can understand over 20 Indian languages, generating content in about 10 languages, including Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Odia, Gujarati, and Malayalam.
Haptik AI
Haptik AI, a conversational AI company, was founded by Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev. The company was established in 2013 in Mumbai, India.
Haptik AI specialises in building AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants. These technologies are used to automate customer service and support processes, providing users with instant, accurate, and efficient assistance. The company’s platforms leverage NLP and machine learning to understand and respond to user inquiries in a human-like manner.
With $12.2 million in funding till date, the company has been expanding to e-commerce, finance, insurance, healthcare, and more. The company’s technology is being used to improve customer engagement, streamline operations, and deliver tailored user experiences across these industries.
Karya AI
Karya AI was founded in 2021 by Manu Chopra, Vivek Seshadri and Safiya Husain. The Bengaluru-based startup focuses on using AI to create employment opportunities for rural Indians.
Through their app, users perform tasks like recording audio in their native languages, contributing to AI data. Karya AI is expanding into various Indian languages, enriching AI databases with diverse linguistic data. Their unique model benefits non-English speakers and provides rural workers with dignified employment.
Microsoft uses Karya for sourcing local speech data for AI products. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation collaborates with Karya to mitigate gender bias in AI data. Google partnered with Karya and others for speech data collection across 85 Indian districts, aiming to expand this to all districts.
Arya AI
Arya.ai was founded by Vinay Kumar Sankarapu and Deekshith Marla in 2013. The Mumbai-based company is renowned for creating a comprehensive AI platform designed to empower other AI companies and developers.
This platform offers a suite of tools and capabilities, streamlining rapid development, training, and deployment of AI models. It simplifies the complexities involved in AI model development, making the process more efficient.
The company is actively expanding its AI platform’s capabilities and reach. Arya.ai aims to serve a diverse range of industries requiring AI solutions, including finance, healthcare, and technology.
Their growth strategy focuses on enhancing the platform’s features and broadening their service offerings. By doing so, Arya.ai is positioning itself to meet the growing demand for AI technology across various applications and industries.
ScribbleData
ScribbleData.io was co-founded by Indrayudh Ghoshal, serving as the COO, and CEO Venkata Pingali. The company started its journey in 2017. Their leading product Enrich is designed to streamline data preparation and facilitate the execution of lightweight machine learning algorithms.
Firstly, it accelerates time-to-value, enabling businesses to quickly and efficiently derive insights from their data. Secondly, it breaks down data silos, enhancing collaboration. Lastly, it ensures data reliability and trustworthiness for solid decision-making and offers a pre-built private data product marketplace with ready-made solutions.
They are integrating generative AI into their offerings, evidenced by the launch of their Hasper engine. This engine leverages LLMs to create a comprehensive LLM data products platform, which promises to deliver even more potent data analysis and insights.
Kissan AI
Kissan AI, founded in 2022 by Pratik Desai, focuses on integrating AI into Indian agriculture. They use AI and NLP for solutions like Dhenu 1.0, an agriculture large language model. Dhenu understands English, Hindi, and Hinglish, aiding farmers with queries, crop recommendations, and pest control.
Kissan AI also develops AI tools for soil and crop monitoring, precision agriculture, and market intelligence. The company is working to expand Dhenu’s capabilities, including more regional dialects and local knowledge. They plan to create new AI tools for automated farming tasks and aim to reach more farmers through partnerships with government and NGOs.
Jan AI
JanAI, proposed to rival ChatGPT, is an initiative lead by Jaspreet Bindra from Tech Whisperer Ltd and Sudhir Tiwari, the managing director at Thoughtworks. Their vision is to create an AI model tailored for India, focusing on the country’s diverse languages and needs, similar in concept to Aadhaar and UPI as digital public goods.
The project calls for a collaboration between the government, IT industry, and academic institutions. It emphasises creating an LLM trained on Indian data, capable of understanding various dialects. The model is yet to be developed, and there are discussions on whether to follow a Western capitalist or a Chinese state-controlled approach.
JanAI would join other initiatives like BharatGPT by CoRover.ai, which also targets Indian languages, MeitY’s Bhashini as a potential data source, and Tech Mahindra’s Project Indus.
MachineHack GenAI
Bengaluru-based MachineHack GenAI was founded by AIM CEO Bhasker Gupta and CTO Krishna Rastogi in 2021. The company hosts AI hackathons, courses, assessments, and coding competitions. It has developed an AI co-pilot designed to guide developers throughout their AI career.
MachineHack uses GPT-4 and its proprietary algorithms to help developers in improving their coding skills. It offers features like code recommendations and suggestions, fostering skill improvement. The platform also introduced a new generative AI tool that provides instant data analysis, adding to its suite of developer tools.
MachineHack contributes to the AI community by publishing articles and insights on generative AI, meeting the needs of its rapidly growing user base. This platform is recognized for having one of the highest growth rates in the country, reflecting its significant impact in the field of AI and coding education.
Blend
Blend, co-founded by Vishwanath Kollapudi and Jamsheed Kamardeen, was established in 2022 and has quickly made a mark in the e-commerce sector. Blend’s AI-powered platform offers e-commerce sellers innovative tools for creating professional product photos and marketing materials efficiently.
The platform features product mockups, allowing for the generation of professional images in various settings; product variations to create different colour, size, and angle options; social media graphics for captivating online posts; and AI-generated product descriptions with relevant keywords.
Currently, Blend is focused on expanding its product offerings, adding new features and functionalities to cater to a broader range of e-commerce needs. They are actively seeking partnerships with e-commerce platforms and marketplaces to integrate their technology.
Additionally, while primarily serving the Indian market, Blend is planning to extend its reach to other high-growth e-commerce regions globally.
