Vishal Sikka's Hang Ten Systems raises $32M to challenge IT services with enterprise AI

Former Infosys chief has a new startup that wants to challenge the IT services world

For decades, IT services firms made billions of dollars by allowing companies to outsource tech tasks like customizing, integrating, and maintaining enterprise software. Vishal Sikka, former CEO of Infosys, one of the largest such firms in India, is now betting that AI can do much of that work instead. His new startup, Hang Ten Systems, has raised a $32 million seed round led by Mayfield, it said Wednesday, with a strategic investment from Aramco Ventures and participation from angel investors. The startup, whose board includes Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, said it helps enterprises continuously build, modify, and operate software using AI-driven development and automation. Hang Ten enters a market where IT services firms, including Infosys, are racing to adapt to AI through partnerships with companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. The startup's launch comes amid a growing debate over whether AI will expand the industry's addressable market or fundamentally alter how enterprise software is built, maintained, and delivered. Clearly, some enterprises are eager to try the AI-services idea, especially from someone as experienced as Sikka, who spent 12 years building enterprise software at SAP, and later as a board member for Oracle. Mayfield Managing Partner Navin Chaddha told TechCrunch that the company "just got started a month back" and already has customers. The startup said it is working with customers including Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius on AI-native project delivery. In a separate blog post announcing the venture, Sikka, 59, said Hang Ten was already helping large enterprises "hang ten on the biggest wave of our lifetimes." Headquartered in the Bay Area, Hang Ten told TechCrunch that it is hiring across delivery, engineering, sales, and leadership and plans to expand across multiple locations globally to meet enterprise demand. The early crew at the startup includes executives who have worked with Sikka for years across SAP, Infosys and his previous enterprise AI startup, VianAI, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Among them are co-founders Navin Budhiraja, the startup's CTO, Sanjay Rajagopalan, its chief design officer, and Tao Liu, its senior vice president of forward deployed engineering. After stepping down as Infosys' chief executive in 2017, Sikka founded VianAI, which emerged from stealth in 2019 with $50 million in seed funding and later raised $140 million in a 2021 round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Chaddha told TechCrunch Hang Ten is distinct from VianAI, describing Sikka's earlier venture as focused on a different market. VianAI focused on enterprise AI applications and analytics tools designed to help businesses use artificial intelligence in decision-making. Hang Ten, by contrast, describes itself as an enterprise AI services company built around agentic code generation, reusable AI skills, and domain expertise. Mayfield backed Hang Ten because of Sikka's career experience, as well as its belief that the startup's AI-native model can scale differently from traditional services firms. "Traditional services scale linearly with headcount," Mayfield said. "Hang Ten is built so its leverage grows with every project." Hang Ten emerges as investors debate how AI will affect the economics of the IT services industry. Analysts at Jefferies argued earlier this year that IT services may be among the first sectors to face meaningful AI disruption. Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani, however, this week said AI could expand the industry's addressable market. Infosys itself has sought to position AI as an opportunity rather than a threat, telling investors this month that "AI-first services" could represent a $300 billion-$400 billion market by 2030. The debate comes as investors reassess the outlook for traditional IT services firms, with Infosys shares down over 35% this year.

Vishal Sikka's AI startup Hang Ten Systems raises $32 million led by Mayfield

Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka has launched Hang Ten Systems, an AI startup focused on enterprise solutions, securing $32 million in seed funding led by Mayfield. The Palo Alto-based company aims to help large corporations translate AI investments into tangible business results. Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka's new venture Hang Ten Systems has raised $32 million in seed funding led by venture capital firm Mayfield, according to a LinkedIn post by Sikka on Wednesday. Launched on Tuesday and based in Palo Alto, California, Hang Ten Systems is an enterprise-focused artificial intelligence (AI) startup that helps large corporations translate AI investments into measurable business outcomes. The startup has also secured backing from Saudi Aramco's venture arm, Aramco Ventures, while entrepreneur Jerry Yang has joined its board. With this round, Hang Ten will build out its team and expanding its work with global enterprises, the post mentioned. The venture marks Sikka's latest bet on enterprise AI nearly a decade after he left Infosys and several years after founding AI startup Vianai Systems. Announcing the venture, Sikka described AI as a transformative wave that enterprises must learn to navigate effectively. "AI is upon us all like a massive new wave," he said, adding that Hang Ten's mission is to help companies "thrive in the age of AI." Sikka said the startup has already begun working with large global enterprises, including healthcare company Fresenius and energy technology firm Siemens Energy. He did not reveal any further information about the venture. The launch is the latest chapter in Sikka's career spanning more than two decades in the tech industry. As a chief technology officer (CTO) at SAP, Sikka helped drive the development of the in-memory computing platform HANA. He later became the first non-founder chief executive of Infosys, where he pushed automation, AI and design-led innovation. Following his departure from Infosys in 2017, he founded Vianai Systems to bring AI-powered decision-making tools to enterprises. Now, with generative AI reshaping corporate technology spending, Sikka believes the biggest opportunity lies not in building models but in helping enterprises use them effectively. He said he has witnessed organisations achieve in minutes what once required years of effort, while many others continue to struggle to extract value from AI. "In that gap lies the biggest opportunity of our time," Sikka said on X.

Startup News Today: Vishal Sikka's Enterprise AI Startup Hang Ten Raises $32 Million to Challenge Traditional IT Services

Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka has announced his latest AI venture, Hang Ten Systems. The new startup has already raised $32 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by venture capital firm Mayfield, with participation from Aramco Ventures and a group of angel investors. Based in Palo Alto, California, Hang Ten Systems focuses on helping large enterprises adopt AI more effectively by building and operating software using an model. The company seeks to reduce the time, cost, and complexity traditionally associated with enterprise software development and deployment.