Indian AI Startups: Pioneering Solutions Across Industries

Entrepreneurial dreams powered by AI

Scores of Indian startups are building AI-driven tools and solutions to solve real-life problems. ET delves deep into these ventures figuring out the excitement as well as the challenges. India's startup ecosystem is buzzing with scores of ventures tapping the technological shift driven by artificial intelligence. Some like Sarvam and Krutrim have been in the limelight, while others are building diverse solutions in horizontal and vertical AI applications. Roughly $5.5 billion has been invested in local AI startups since 2022, says Venture Intelligence data. Nasscom points out India ranks sixth in terms of the total GenAI startup count, which numbers 240. From banking and financial services to fashion, sectors across are warming up to GenAI as several startups build unique use cases. For instance, OnFinance cofounders Anuj and Priyesh Srivastava spotted an opportunity in compliance requirements, and failure incurs large fines from regulators such as Securities and Exchanges Board of India. Its product, ComplianceOS AI agent, ensures that users meet all requirements. What used to take 50 hours per week has dropped to 10-15 hours, according to Anuj Srivastava. Spotdraft, which has so far raised $45 million, is tapping end-to-end contact management using GenAI for cross-sector clients including Airbnb, Cred and Panasonic. Started in 2017 as an AI-powered contract-review platform based on Google's 2018 neural network language model, BERT, it later shifted its focus to end-to-end contract life management -- ranging from e-signatures and contract analytics to integrating with other tools. Madhav Bhagat, cofounder and CTO, said competition comes from new-age AI companies that are changing how customers interact, such as through chats. "What is the next UX (user experience) paradigm going to be? It is an area where we are seeing some level of challenge," he said. Some startups are helping others get entrepreneurial. Figr is offering a GenAI tool that can help clients design a product. For instance, a newbie founder on a shoe string budget looking for an AI tool. One of the biggest challenges with design is the research phase, said cofounder and CEO Moksh Garg. "It is open-ended, subjective -- we wanted to accelerate the process," he said. The company counts Cars24, Postman and global players like Softonic as its users. Gopichand Katragadda, former CTO at the Tata Group, started Myelin Foundry in 2019 with the belief that AI could unlock value across industries. The AI algorithms it developed can enhance data intelligence, decision making and performance on edge devices like mobile phones. For example, the company collaborates with a leading global OTT platform to improve streaming quality and reduce energy consumption for users. It also works with automobile companies on interactive infotainment systems. NeuroPixel is upping the game in fashion tech through synthetic AI models. The firm, which is backed by Flipkart, was cofounded by Arvind Venugopal Nair, a former Myntra executive, and Amritendu Mukherjee, guest faculty at IISc. "When you shop online, images form the crux of the purchase decision. But most of the models are white, tall and thin and not relatable. The idea was--can we increase personalisation of images using AI?" Nair said. Using Neuropixel, companies can create catalogs with synthetic humans and backgrounds, and multiple ethnicities, or use human models with AI-generated backgrounds. The firm, which acknowledges competition from startups and big companies, uses open-source AI models to build their proprietary algorithm that is trained on images from studio shoots when required. To ensure there is no resemblance to real humans online, every image goes through facial recognition technology before release, Nair said. Mansoor Rahmat Khan and Siddharth Bhardwaj are aiming to help creators find the right background music. "If someone wants to create background music either they directly go to the musician, which is time consuming and expensive, or go to a stock music library, which can't be customised--there is nothing in between," Bhardwaj said. Beatoven.ai aims to fill the gap. Instead of using copyrighted music libraries, the firm works with 300 musicians to train AI models. The firm, which has about $2.42 million in funding, is facing global competition from well-funded companies like Suno, which offer a wider variety of music though the latter are facing copyright lawsuits from large music labels. DocketRun, based in Hubballi in Karnataka, is using AI to enable a safe working environment in industries such as manufacturing, oil and gas, and mining. "On an average, three people die and 11 are injured in industrial accidents per day in India. These are people we want to protect," said Ajay Kabadi, co-founder and CEO DocketRun. The company works with Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Maruti Suzuki. Peak XV Partners managing director Rajan Anandan sees this wave as the beginning of a 20-year AI megacycle. "Of course, there are ups and downs," he said. "We tend to pick an area that has a very long-term transformational potential as the technology is going to impact every industry." There is a need to focus on translating business priorities into AI use cases, and solving it using the right model and solution, said Sharad Sanghi, cofounder and CEO of Neysa Networks, which is enabling GPU access through public cloud offering and private cluster deployment. "In many cases, pilots don't result in production use cases, and so sustainable consumption is a challenge. It is early days, and will only improve over time," he said.

Spotlighting India's next-GenAI startups!

Indian deep-tech startups in GenAI are creating solutions in sectors like finance, AI cloud, video streaming, and healthcare, targeting global markets. Ten promising AI startups are highlighted, showcasing their vision and challenges.Deep-tech startups in India that have embarked on their GenAI journey are building solutions across diverse areas such as finance, AI cloud, video streaming, fashion, healthcare, and other SaaS applications, and are taking their products to the global markets . ET spotlights India's ten buzzy AI startups, which are at various stages of growth, highlighting their vision and the hurdles they face along the way: Startup: Spotdraft Founders: Shashank Bijapur, Rohith Salim, Madhav Bhagat Year: 2017 What are they building? AI-powered contract life management Key challenge: Competition from AI companies changing customer interactions Total funding: $45 million Valuation: $136 million Key investors: Premji Invest, Arkam Ventures, 021 Capital Startup: Neysa Networks Founders: Sharad Sanghi, Anindya Das Year: 2023 What are they building? AI infrastructure and cloud platform Key challenge: Sustainable GPU/model consumption for evolving use-cases Total funding: $50 million Valuation: $76.8 million Key investors: Z47, Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures Startup: Myelin Foundry Founders: Gopichand Katragadda, Ganesh Suryanarayanan Year: 2019 What are they building? Add AI intelligence to edge devices Key challenge: Running AI algorithms on small compute Total funding: $10.7 million Valuation: $19 million Key investors: Endiya Partners, Pratithi Investment trust, Beyond Next Ventures Startup: OnFinance Founders: Anuj Srivastava, Priyesh Srivastava Year: 2022 What are they building? AI agent Compliance software Key challenge: Longer sales cycle Total funding: $1.05 million Valuation: $3.75 million Key investors: Indian Angel Network, Silverneedle Ventures, LetsVenture, Kunal Shah Startup: NeuroPixel Founders: Arvind Venugopal Nair, Amritendu Mukherjee Year: 2020 What are they building? Synthetic image/video generation in fashion/e-commerce Key challenge: Competition from startups and large players Total funding: $1.28 million Valuation: $5.81 million Key investors: Flipkart, Entrepreneur First, Beacon Trusteeship Startup: Figr Founders: Moksh Garg, Chirag Singla Year: 2023 What are they building? GenAI tool to automate product design Key challenge: Competition from global startups Total funding: $2.5 million Valuation: $5.81 million Key investors: Kalaari Capital, Antler, Golden Sparrow Startup: Beatoven. ai Founders: Mansoor Rahmat Khan, Siddharth Bharadwaj Year: 2021 What are they building? AI music generation platform Key challenge: Copyright lawsuits from artists Total funding: $2.42 million Valuation: $8.27 million Key investors: Capital 2B, IvyCap Ventures, Entrepreneur First Startup: Artivatic. ai Founders: Layak Singh Year: 2018 What are they building? API-first platform for insure-tech and health-tech Key challenge: Data collection for building accurate algorithms Total funding: $2 million Valuation: $10 million Key investors: KFintech, Indian Angel Network, SenseAI Ventures Startup: Docket Run Founders: Ajay Kabadi, Shweta Shettar Year: 2019 What are they building? AIoT solutions worker's safety at heavy industries Key challenge: Operating from tier-II city Total funding: $64,112 Valuation: NA Key investors: Bootstrapped Startup: GoCodeo Founders: Meghana Jagadeesh, Jatin Garg Year: 2023 What are they building? No-code platform to develop software code using natural language prompts Key challenge: Competition from popular coding assistants Total funding: $150,000 Valuation: $1 million Key investors: 100X VC Source: Tracxn, Nasscom GenAI foundry list