Synopsis
India’s homegrown artificial intelligence startup, Sarvam AI, is close to raising $300 million to $350 million as it seeks to build a domestic player that can compete with leaders from the US and China.The Bangalore-based company is raising the money at a valuation of $1.5 billion to $1.55 billion and could close the round as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, asking not to be named because the discussions aren’t yet public. Bessemer Venture Partners is expected to lead the round, with Nvidia Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Prosperity7 Ventures also participating, the people said.
Sarvam took a starring role at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s AI summit in February, unveiling an AI model that is tailored to the languages and cultures of the world’s biggest market. Modi and his government have made a forceful case that countries beyond the US and China need to control their own destiny with the emerging technology.
Sarvam was founded by two AI researchers, Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, in 2023.
Sarvam’s models are built to be used through voice commands and are accessible through 22 Indian languages, which the company has said will be a competitive advantage in the country of 1.45 billion where the vast majority can’t read, write or type in English. The goal is to take on the likes of OpenAI and Alphabet Inc., whose models often struggle with Indian languages.
Sarvam also offers what’s known as “agentic” AI models that can carry out tasks like coding or meeting planning in large part autonomously and with minimal human intervention. The company says its agents could drive enterprise automation in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
“Today we show we can bring our own AI to a billion Indians,” Sarvam co-founder Kumar said in February at the unveiling.
