While the potential is immense, startups face challenges such as the lack of high-quality training data, patient capital, and computational capacity. Despite these hurdles, the ecosystem is ripe with opportunities. From healthcare to fintech, these companies are pushing boundaries. Let’s take a look at some Indian artificial intelligence companies that caught our attention. 

Karya AI: Digital Work For Rural India

Karya AI provides high-quality, non-English data annotation services, mainly targeting Indian languages. It sources, labels, and annotates data to support AI models designed for Indian users. By offering digital tasks, Karya AI brings dignified employment to rural India, targeting mostly women and paying up to 20 times the prevailing minimum wage​ 

Founded by Manu Chopra, a Stanford University alum, Karya AI provides women and individuals from marginalized communities, empowering skills and financial independence. Their initiative has reached 22 states, partnering with over 200 NGOs to identify and train workers remotely​. 

Initially supported by a seed grant from Microsoft, Karya AI has also received project-based grants from the Gates Foundation. Microsoft and Google have utilized Karya’s services for sourcing local speech data and reducing gender biases in AI datasets. 

NIRAMAI: Breast Cancer Screening with AI

NIRAMAI stands for “Non-Invasive Risk Assessment with Machine Intelligence”. They have developed an innovative AI-powered technology, Thermalytix, for early breast cancer detection. 

This technology uses a unique approach of thermal image processing combined with artificial intelligence to detect tumors at a much earlier stage in a non-invasive manner. Also they cost only ₹8 Lakhs whereas a mammography machine costs between ₹80 Lakhs to ₹2 Crore.

Dr. Geetha Manjunath, with a Ph.D. from IISc and management education from Kellogg’s Chicago, is the Founder NIRAMAI. She has over 25 years of experience in IT innovation. And has received numerous recognitions for her innovative entrepreneurial work, including being listed on the Forbes List of Top 20 Self-Made Women 2020​.

NIRAMAI has attracted attention from notable backers. They have been selected for Google’s Launchpad Accelerator program and received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Till now they have raised a total of $14 million over 8 funding rounds​ (Tracxn)​

Rephrase AI: Transforming Text into Video with AI

Rephrase AI, an adobe acquired startup, converts text to video through generative AI. It is a groundbreaking facility for influencers and video creators to craft professional video clips.

This Bengaluru-based startup was founded by IIT alumni Ashray Malhotra, Nisheeth Lahoti, and Shivam Mangla in 2019. This innovative video creation platform allows its users to generate video content directly from text inputs.

Rephrase AI has made significant strides in the generative AI and video creation space, having raised a total of $13.9 million in funding. The startup’s acquisition by Adobe marks a significant milestone, indicating the value and potential of Rephrase AI’s technology

CoRover AI: Conversational AI for Inclusive Technology

CoRover, known for its human-centric approach, is revolutionizing the field of conversational AI. It was founded by Ankush Sabharwal, Manav Gandotra, and Kunal Bhakhri. This platform offers diverse services including AI VideoBots, VoiceBots, and ChatBots across multiple languages. 

Their flagship product, BharatGPT, is an indigenous large language model that supports over 14 Indian languages for voice modality and 22 for text, making digital interaction more inclusive and accessible across India

They have achieved over 400 million users and more than 20 billion interactions. BharatGPT is poised to transform AI interactions in India, with its extensive reach across various sectors and integration with the National Hub of Language Technology.

Sarvam AI: Generative AI for India’s Diverse Needs

Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar co-founded Sarvam AI with a vision to harness generative AI for societal good. Sarvam AI develops a full stack of generative AI solutions, aiming to make the development, deployment, and distribution of generative AI applications more robust and affordable​.

Sarvam AI is at the forefront of developing generative AI models, particularly focusing on Indic languages to address India’s unique linguistic and cultural diversity. The startup has embarked on a collaboration with Microsoft to make its Indic voice large language model (LLM) accessible on Azure. 

Initially, Sarvam AI’s Indic voice LLM will be available in Hindi, with plans to extend support to more Indian languages​. Sarvam AI has successfully raised $41 million in a Series A funding round, led by Lightspeed. This marks a substantial early-stage fundraising achievement.

Wrapping Up

Remember, these summaries are just a glimpse of what these incredible startups are about. These firms stand out for their innovative contributions to the AI landscape. And offers unique solutions that range from enhancing business operations to addressing societal challenges. Their groundbreaking work not only showcases the potential of AI technology but also highlights India’s growing influence in the global tech arena.