How do you view the deep tech ecosystem in India vis-a-vis that in the US?
A lot of problems get solved in the US with access to capital. So, a startup can all of a sudden be founded and raise $10 million and start using GPUs. India has a deep venture capital ecosystem, but we're not at that level where if I say tomorrow I'm starting something new, my seed round will be able to raise that same amount. We have tapped into VCs, sovereign funds and companies such as Nvidia, AMD, Snowflake and Databricks. At the same time, this same pool of capital is absolutely accessible and available to a startup founder working in Bengaluru or Chennai today.
Second, the cost structures of an Indian startup still has a big advantage and arbitrage over that of a Silicon Valley startup. So, I wouldn't buy into the point that access to capital is no longer a differentiator. It is equalised now.
What is the key differentiator now?
The US has a lead in adoption of this technology, both in the consumer and enterprise sector. And what that does is makes the developers working in these technologies, interact with a cross-section of a few hundred customers, who are using our platform and are constantly giving feedback. We are able to see what is attracting the most usage. This constant flywheel of very high velocity innovation, because of the adoption, is making the talent ecosystem in the US very mature. India has the talent, but the question is how to put that into use, or the ecosystem that talent moves into.
How can India create that innovation ecosystem system?
There are two areas where India can not only bridge the gap, but lead the world. India has the potential to be the adoption capital of AI. We might be slow to get off the line compared to the US and China, who aggressively lunged at it in the last three years. As India starts to adopt AI at scale, at a citizen level, population level, or in enterprises by solving an education problem in local language or healthcare accessibility, it will aid the development.
So as that adoption curve takes off with unique-to-India use cases, it will create the same flywheel for the developers in India, because those developers would now be exposed to real world usage and they will, therefore, constantly mature their technology. The second area is that the country will be the talent export market in AI to the world.
Where is Uniphore in terms of revenue?
We've now delivered for two years in a row, 100 per cent year-on-year growth. And we are again projecting for a third year, a similar growth rate. This will also be the year when we will cross a billion dollars of total bookings. 65 per cent of our revenue is from the US, while about 25 per cent from Europe. The rest is Asia.
India is still very small in terms of topline. I won't be surprised if Indian enterprises, as they look to adopt enterprise AI and face the same challenges as the ones in the West, play a stronger role in our growth trajectory in the next three years.
What have been the key takeaways for you from the AI Summit?
The theme of sovereign AI needs to be underscored, especially for a country like India. While Uniphore is a US company, when I am doing business in many European countries, I am being asked what if your President comes out with a diktat that you can't access this technology because it's American. This means that governments around the world are focusing heavily on controlling their own destiny. And I'm glad that India is not just thinking, but making moves in that direction. So, for me, the positive takeaway is the development with Sarvam. I don't think we need 50 of those, but we need four or five of those for India.
 "Umesh Sachdev, Co founder and Chief executive officer (CEO), Uniphore")
