Sarvam becomes India’s newest AI unicorn with $234 million funding round led by HCLTech
Key takeaways
- Sarvam has raised $234 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, the company announced on Monday.
- $150 million of that money will come from HCLTech, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate HCL Group and lead strategic investor in the round.
- The new funding also reflects a broader push by countries and companies to develop sovereign AI capabilities amid growing concerns over access to advanced models and the computing infrastructure that powers them.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Sarvam has raised $234 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, the company announced on Monday. The Bengaluru-based company is now India s newest AI unicorn, as governments and companies seek greater control over critical artificial intelligence technologies and computing infrastructure.
$150 million of that money will come from HCLTech, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate HCL Group and lead strategic investor in the round. Bessemer Venture Partners also participated alongside existing backers Khosla Ventures and Peak XV Partners. Sarvam hopes to raise a total of $300 million for its Series B round.
The investment comes more than two years after Sarvam raised $41 million across its seed and Series A rounds, and follows the startup s launch of its open-source models in 30-billion- and 105-billion-parameters earlier this year.