Krutrim is now India’s first AI unicorn and the first unicorn of 2024.
OLA Electric founder, Bhavish Aggarwal’s artificial intelligence startup Krutrim SI Designs announced that it has raised $50 million from several investors, led by Matrix Partners India. This funding has elevated the startup to unicorn status with a valuation of $1 billion, making it the fastest company to reach this milestone.
Krutrim (artificial in Sanskrit) is now India’s first AI unicorn and the first unicorn of 2024, as well as the third since January 2023, other two being Zepto and InCred. In October 2023, Krutrim raised $24 million in debt from Matrix Partners.
Krutrim SI Designs, co-founded by Tenneti Venugopala Krishnamurthy in April this year, is Aggarwal’s third unicorn venture, following Ola and Ola Electric. Krishnamurthy, a longstanding board member of Ola’s parent company ANI Technologies, joins Aggarwal in this endeavor.
The company plans to release two versions of its AI model: Krutrim and Krutrim Pro. The base model, Krutrim, understands 22 Indian languages and can respond in 10, while Krutrim Pro is designed for enterprise use as a multi-modal model.
Aggarwal stated that the capital raised would be used to fuel innovation and expand Krutrim’s global reach, aiming to transform the AI landscape. He expressed excitement about the successful closure of their first funding round, highlighting the investors’ confidence in Krutrim’s potential to effect significant global change from India.
Aggarwal’s achievement of founding three unicorns puts him alongside Supam Maheshari, who has also founded three unicorns: FirstCry, GlobalBees, and XpressBees.
