Krutrim, an artificial intelligence startup founded by Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, has announced a $1 billion funding round. According to a press release, the startup was founded last year and is the fastest to become a unicorn in India. It is also the first Indian AI startup to achieve unicorn status, according to the company.
Krutrim’s $50 million “first round” was led by Matrix Partners India, which has previously invested in Aggarwal’s other two startups, ride-hailing platform Ola and EV startup Ola Electric.
The investment in Krutrim comes at a time when investors around the world are scrambling to identify and back AI breakthroughs, betting on the theory that advances in AI will make countless industries more efficient, and that startups at the forefront will deliver generational returns.
Despite having one of the world’s largest startup ecosystems, India has yet to make an impact in the AI race. Indian competitors have yet to emerge and challenge the dominance of large language model titans like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Amazon-backed Anthropic, and Google’s Bard.
