Bhavish Aggarwal, the head of Krutrim, Ola’s AI division, revealed a successful funding round that values the company at $1 billion. The media release highlighted Krutrim’s rapid rise to unicorn status in India, marking it as the country’s fastest-growing unicorn and the first Indian AI firm to achieve such a milestone.
The initial funding round of $50 million for Krutrim was spearheaded by Matrix Partners India, a key supporter of Aggarwal’s ventures including Ola and Ola Electric. This investment marks a significant milestone for Aggarwal’s new AI venture, following reports from TechCrunch last year about the potential funding round.
Krutrim, in addition to English, is actively developing a robust language model trained on various regional Indian languages. The company aims to introduce a conversational AI assistant capable of understanding and communicating in multiple Indian languages.
Scheduled for release next month, Krutrim plans to unveil a beta version of its chatbot to users, followed by the rollout of APIs for businesses and developers.
Aggarwal’s latest endeavor, Krutrim, complements his existing successful ventures in the ride-hailing and EV sectors. Ola continues to dominate the Indian ride-hailing market with a focus on profitability, while Ola Electric, a major player in the Indian two-wheeler EV market, recently filed for a substantial $662 million IPO.
Emphasizing the importance of indigenous AI development, Aggarwal declared, “India must nurture its own AI capabilities, and we are dedicated to building the country’s premier AI technology stack.”
The successful closure of Krutrim’s first funding round underscores investor confidence in the company’s potential to drive significant advancements in India and globally through its cutting-edge AI solutions.
Investors are actively seeking and backing AI innovations, anticipating that AI breakthroughs will revolutionize various industries, with early movers like Krutrim poised to deliver substantial returns.
Despite India’s vibrant startup ecosystem, the country has yet to make a significant mark in the global AI landscape. Key players in the language AI domain, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Amazon-backed Anthropic, and Google’s Bard, continue to dominate the space without significant Indian competition.
In a notable development, Indian conglomerate Reliance and Nvidia announced plans to develop a comprehensive language model based on India’s diverse linguistic landscape. Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s wealthiest individual, oversees the project, although specific details of the offering are yet to be disclosed.
Another AI firm, Sarvam, focusing on speech technology, recently secured backing from Peak XV and Lightspeed India, further underscoring the growing interest and investment in AI advancements.
