CogniQuest Secures Funding to Revolutionize Document Analysis for Enterprises

Cogniquest Bags Funding To Help Enterprises Digitise Documents

Founded in 2022, Cogniquest claims to have built a context-aware AI platform that can capture key data points and generate actionable insights from information repositories Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Cogniquest has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from fintech-focussed venture capital firm Cedar-IBSi Capital and angel investors. The round saw participation from more than 25 Indian angel investors, including QuantGro cofounder Dhiraj Sinha, ex-Infosys executives Umashankar Malapaka and Visveswara Gupta, former Accenture India managing director Rajesh Bhat, Anup Naik and Santosh Rao of Zeliot, ReadyAssist's Vimal Singh, Srinivas Majji, among others, Cedar-IBSi said in a statement. Founded in 2022 by Satish Grampurohit and Girish Kerodi, Cogniquest claims to have built a context-aware AI platform that can capture key data points and generate actionable insights from documents and information repositories. It claims to offer 200X faster document processing and caters to names such as IT giants Infosys and Tech Mahindra so far. Cogniquest cofounder and chief business officer (CBO) Kerodi told Inc42 that the fresh capital will be deployed to further scale up technology development, expand use cases, and "build a strong team". He added that the investment from Cedar-IBSi will help it leverage the VC firm's expertise to build "deep-domain vertical" solutions catering to finance and banking sectors. However, Kerodi didn't disclose the funding amount and the post-money valuation of the startup. Commenting on the fundraise, Cogniquest cofounder and CEO Grampurohit said, "Securing seed funding from Cedar-IBSi Capital and esteemed angel investors marks a significant milestone in our journey... Fuelled by enthusiastic responses from clients and partners, we are excited about the opportunity to build a globally renowned enterprise tech SaaS platform from India". The investment comes within months of Cedar-IBSI marking the first close of its INR 240 Cr fintech fund in March this year by raising capital in the range of INR 50 to 75 Cr. It plans to invest INR 10-15 Cr each in 15 early stage fintech startups in B2B fintech and banktech space "... We are excited to partner with Cogniquest, which is building a disruptive AI- enabled platform to extract relevant, refined, classified and validated data from complex and unstructured documents. All of this is guided by the able leadership of Satish, Girish and their diverse team," Cedar-IBSi associate partner Subit Saurav said. The development comes at a time when AI mania has gripped the Indian startup ecosystem. From customer service to fintech, the emerging technology has found use cases across the board, resulting in renewed investor interest. Last month, Inc42 reported that GenAI startup Gnani.ai raised $4 Mn as part of a Series A round from Info Edge. Prior to that, IIFL Fintech Fund invested an undisclosed amount of funding to pick up a 10% stake in Gen AI startup Vitra.ai. Last month, AI sales development platform Pintel.ai also bagged $1 Mn as part of its seed funding round led by IvyCap Ventures.

Fintech VC fund Cedar-IBSi Capital invests in Cogniquest

Early-stage FinTech VC fund, Cedar-IBSi Capital, has announced its first investment in Cogniquest, an AI-ML Intelligent Document Processing company that is seeking to focus on document automation for Financial Services institutions. The funds will be used on tech development, expanding the use cases, and building a strong team. Along with Cedar-IBSi Capital, the round has participation from 25+ angels via AngelList India. Many of the angels are industry leaders from Banking, Financial Services, Insurance and technology sectors. Dhiraj Sinha (Ex CapGemini, Dell and now Founder of QuantGro), Umashankar Malapaka (Ex Infosys), Visveswara Gupta (Ex Infosys), Rajesh Bhat (Ex MD Accenture), Anup Naik (Co-founder, Zeliot), Vimal Singh (Founder, ReadyAsssist), Santosh Rao (CFO, Zeliot), and Srinivas Majji to name a few. Cedar-IBSi Capital, which announced its first close in Q1 2024, is actively focusing on and evaluating B2B FinTech/BankTech opportunities, in light of the investment team's prior experience, and platform's history in this space. The fund has firmed up its positioning of being India's only early-stage pure-play FinTech fund. It will invest in innovative and disruptive tech companies building products for the BFSI segment with an average investment size of INR 10-15 crores (USD 1-2 million) during its investment cycle as a lead or co-investor. Founded in 2022, Cogniquest has built a context-aware AI platform with the ability to capture key data points and generate actionable insights from complex documents and information repositories. It helps unlock the true potential of data through cutting-edge AI solutions to empower business users with smarter decision-making. The company is founded by AI engineers, computational linguists and corporate IT leaders who have decades-long experience in working with global clients in building enterprise-grade products and solutions using cognitive technologies. Commenting on the investment, Sahil Anand, Founder and Managing Partner of Cedar-IBSi Capital, said, "The banking technology and infrastructure ecosystem is undergoing a silent disruption, with new-age players complementing and disrupting age-old monolithic systems, by bringing modular and easier-to-implement solutions. We see immense potential for growth in this segment and expect the next generation of tech-product companies building for BFSI globally to emerge from India. With the experience and expertise of our platform, our fund thesis is uniquely positioned to identify potential winners and help them grow." Subit Saurav, Associate Partner, Cedar-IBSi Capital added, "We believe that AI is going to change the way businesses, particularly BFSI, operate in the next decade. Cogniquest's platform and use cases help enterprises in improving business efficiency and knowledge management for financial institutions, in addition to bringing transparency for end customers. We are excited to partner with Cogniquest, which is building a disruptive AI-enabled platform to extract relevant, refined, classified and validated data from complex and unstructured documents. All of this is guided by the able leadership of Satish, Girish and their diverse team." Satish Grampurohit, Co-Founder and CEO, Cogniquest, said, "After a fulfilling 25-year journey at Infosys, I joined hands with my co-founders to launch Cogniquest, aiming to revolutionize the document intelligence space. Building a hyperintelligent platform like Cogniquest requires a rare combination of deep industry insights, and expertise in AI, ML, and computational linguistics, which my co-founders Girish, Harsha, Thejaswi, and Nitin bring. "We have managed to build an enterprise-grade platform, being bootstrapped for over 2 years. With growing customer traction and business visibility, we decided to seek external funding from a strategic investor to accelerate our growth. Cedar-IBSi Capital was a natural choice. "Securing seed funding from Cedar-IBSi Capital and esteemed angel investors marks a significant milestone in our journey. We are grateful to the angel investors, Cedar-IBSi Capital and AngelList India for their belief in us. We will strive to uphold their trust and deliver substantial value. "Fuelled by enthusiastic responses from clients and partners, we are excited about the opportunity to build a globally renowned enterprise tech SaaS platform from India."