Indian Generative AI Startup Sarvam AI Raises $41M
Indian generative AI startup Sarvam AI has raised $41 million in a combination seed and Series A funding round. Lightspeed led the Series A and co-led the seed round with Peak XV Partners. Sarvam AI is working on creating large language models (LLMs) and generative AI tools that work with Indian languages.
Sarvam AI
Sarvam AI is focused on training models that support multiple Indian languages. That includes both text and voice interfaces, which may become the default for programs created with Sarvam’s models. The Bengaluru-based company plans to work with Indian companies and philanthropic groups to develop customized generative AI solutions tailored to their data and business domains. Sarvam also hopes to establish India as a hub for AI research and innovation.
“I have seen firsthand the enormous value in innovating at foundational layers and deploying at population scale, Sarvam AI co-founder Vivek Raghavan said in a statement. “India has demonstrated that it can harness technology differently, and with GenAI we have an opportunity to reimagine how this technology can add value to people’s lives.”
Raghavan and co-founder Pratyush Kumar both came from the initiative behind open-source Indian language AI AI4Bharat before founding Sarvam five months ago. They hope to make India a bigger center of generative AI as the industry explodes globally. Most of the attention has been on American and Chinese models, with some other Asian and European outliers, but India could become a major player on the scene. The country has been quick to adopt AI for commerce and government in recent times. Indian supermarket chain JioMart saw big user numbers for its WhatsApp chatbot by conversational AI developer Haptik, while the national government funded the creation of an AI voice assistant to help citizens carry out tasks.
“Our aim is to establish Sarvam AI as a beacon for AI innovation, attracting the brightest minds to tackle foundational research challenges right here in India,” Kumar said. “The race towards ever more powerful AI is both an exciting and divisive one. We named our company Sarvam, which in Sanskrit means ‘all’, as we are intentionally invested in technical and ecosystem innovations that make this technology accessible to all.”
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