Krutrim, an AI startup established by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, has recently secured a funding round, elevating its valuation to $1 billion. This achievement marks Krutrim as both the quickest startup in India to attain unicorn status and the first Indian AI startup to do so. The $50 million funding, led by Matrix Partners India, supports Krutrim’s development of a large language model proficient in multiple Indian languages and English.
Krutrim, meaning “artificial” in Sanskrit, is focusing on creating a voice-enabled AI assistant capable of understanding and conversing in various Indian languages. The startup plans to release a beta version of its chatbot soon, followed by APIs for developers and enterprises. Additionally, Krutrim is working on producing AI-optimized chips, expanding on Aggarwal’s vision of developing and designing chips, as reported by TechCrunch.
“India has to build its own AI, and at कृत्रिम, we are fully committed towards building the country’s first complete AI computing stack,” Aggarwal said in a statement. “We are thrilled to announce the successful closure of our first funding round, which not only validates the potential of कृत्रिम ’s innovative AI solutions but also underscores the confidence investors have in our ability to drive meaningful change out of India for the world.”
This venture is Aggarwal’s third major project, following the successful ride-hailing platform Ola and the leading two-wheeler EV company Ola Electric, which is preparing for a $662 million IPO. Krutrim’s emergence comes at a critical time when global investors are keenly investing in AI, anticipating significant advancements across industries.
Despite India’s vast startup ecosystem, it has not significantly impacted the global AI race, dominated by giants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Amazon-backed Anthropic, or Google’s Bard. However, Indian firms like Reliance, partnering with NVIDIA, and other startups like Sarvam are also working on large language models, signifying a growing interest in AI development in the region. The high costs associated with training large language models are notable, with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic raising billions, and Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, reportedly seeking up to $6 billion in funding.
Featured image: Credit: Krutrim
