(Image source from: REUTERS)
The Indian IT industry has been careful when it comes to AI. Major companies like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro have worried about a possible crisis every time a firm like Anthropic introduces new features. However, now HCLTech, another big player in the Indian IT scene, is said to be looking to invest in the Indian AI startup Sarvam AI.
According to a report from Moneycontrol, HCLTech is set to lead a new funding round for Sarvam AI, potentially putting in $150 million with a company value of $1.5 billion. Sarvam is also aiming to gather another $150 million during this round, with rumors suggesting that Nvidia might also be interested. This funding will be significant as it will be the first one for Sarvam in more than two years. The last time it raised money was $41 million in a Series A round back in December 2023. If this round happens, it would be a big change in the Indian tech landscape, as a traditional Indian IT firm decides to support a local AI startup. It would also rank among the largest fundraising by an Indian AI startup.
It’s important to note that Sarvam has been creating its own AI models for a while now. The startup, based in Bengaluru, has previously outperformed ChatGPT and Google Gemini in some tasks with its Vision and Bulbul models. This investment arrives when the Indian IT sector is facing fast changes brought on by AI-focused companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. This has caused worries about the future of SaaS because of tools like Claude Cowork. Meanwhile, HCLTech has partnered with OpenAI to help bring AI solutions into client systems, which appears to be increasingly essential right now, especially as OpenAI and Anthropic have their own AI service offerings. Similarly, TCS and Infosys also have similar agreements. Remember that Indian service companies have previously been criticized for not putting money into AI. Now, Anthropic, which was established in 2021, has a higher valuation than the top four Indian IT firms.
Sarvam AI was started in July 2023 by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar. The goal of the startup is to be a complete sovereign AI company that focuses on creating foundational models, or essential AI systems that can be used in many ways, specifically for India. Sarvam AI is working on AI for Indian languages and voice applications for users and businesses, along with a platform for developing and implementing AI applications. At the IndiaAI Impact Summit earlier this year, it revealed two large language models, which are AI systems that learn from vast amounts of data to create and understand text, with one having 30 billion parameters and another with 105 billion parameters trained entirely in India. Sarvam also presented AI-powered smart glasses at this event, which were worn by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In February, the company launched the Sarvam Indus mobile app for Indian users, though it is still in the testing phase.
