Amidst the realm of tech innovators, Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder of Ola, emerges as a notable figure with his AI venture named Krutrim, which recently ascended to unicorn status following a substantial injection of $50 million from investors, including Matrix Partners India. Through an official declaration, Krutrim proudly announces its achievement as the premier Indian AI enterprise to attain a billion-dollar valuation, an impressive feat accomplished merely a month post its grand unveiling of a sophisticated language model. Krutrim, a term derived from the Sanskrit language meaning ‘artificial,’ is dedicated to constructing cutting-edge data centers geared towards the development of advanced servers and supercomputers tailored for the burgeoning AI landscape.
The revelation follows closely on the heels of another significant financial boost, with Krutrim securing $41 million from prominent backers such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, along with esteemed individuals like billionaire Vinod Khosla.
In a resolute statement, Aggarwal asserts, “India’s journey into AI necessitates homegrown solutions. We are steadfastly committed to pioneering the nation’s inaugural comprehensive AI computing infrastructure.”
A Global Pursuit: Nations Vying for AI Dominance More than a year ago, the unveiling of ChatGPT by OpenAI marked a pivotal moment in the global technological arena, igniting a fervent pursuit among various Indian startups and academic collectives to develop expansive language models tailored to Indian dialects, commonly referred to as Indic LLMs. This endeavor reflects a broader trend wherein nations worldwide are fervently endeavoring to cultivate indigenous AI architectures rather than relying on external technological imports, particularly from dominant players like the US and China. Notably, within the European landscape, considerable investment flows into initiatives like France’s Mistral AI, which, established just last year, has swiftly garnered a valuation of $2 billion.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates proudly champions its Falcon model, championing its merits and garnering robust support from an esteemed Abu Dhabi-based governmental research institution.
India, with its vast population of approximately 1.4 billion individuals, has embarked on a distinct path, emphasizing the development of compact yet highly economical AI systems. Sarvam, a pioneering generative AI startup, recently unveiled its inaugural open-source Hindi LLM, named OpenHathi, a mere month ago. It is noteworthy that Sarvam has meticulously constructed its platform by harnessing existing open-source models.
