Bhavish Aggarwal's Krutrim AI seeks $300M funding
What's the story
Krutrim AI, an artificial intelligence venture founded by Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, is said to be in talks to raise $300 million in a new round of funding. The move would mark the Bengaluru-based start-up's first funding since it became a unicorn in January last year. Initially, Krutrim had aimed to raise $500 million but later lowered its target amid lukewarm investor interest.
Funding details
Leading investment banks to manage funding round
The funding round for Krutrim is being led by top investment banks including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and SBI Capital Markets. Since its launch, the AI venture has raised some $75 million from multiple investors including Z47 (formerly Matrix) and the Sarin Family among others. Last December, Aggarwal raised debt funding for Krutrim by pledging his Ola Electric shares through debenture issuance.
Expansion plans
Aggarwal's vision for Krutrim AI
Earlier this year, Aggarwal announced the formation of Krutrim AI, with a focus on developing AI for India. He had committed an initial investment of ₹2,000 crore ($241 million) to the effort and plans to ramp it up to ₹10,000 crore ($1.2 billion) by next year. The company hopes to build a complete AI ecosystem in India and take on global giants like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Tech development
Krutrim is developing several AI models
Krutrim is working on a number of AI models, including Krutrim-2 (next-gen language model), Chitrarth 1 (for images and text), Dhwani 1 (for speech), and Vyakhyarth 1 (Indian languages focused). As part of its strategy, the company is also building India's largest AI supercomputer with NVIDIA's GB200 chips. This supercomputer will give a major boost to India's cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.