Sarvam AI set to raise ₹700 crore in Nvidia-led funding round: Report

Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Sarvam AI is set to raise ₹700 crore (around $74 million) in an extended Series B funding round led by AI chipmaker Nvidia, according to media reports.

 

The funding round will also see participation from Glade Brook Capital, Gaja Capital, Indigo Ventures, and other investors.

 

Nvidia is expected to invest around ₹238 crore ($25 million), while Glade Brook Capital and Gaja Capital will contribute around ₹190 crore ($20 million) and ₹95 crore, respectively.

 

  The latest funding round will value Sarvam AI at around $1.51 billion post-money, bringing its total funding to nearly $349 million, reported Entrackr.

 

 

Founded by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, Sarvam AI develops foundation AI models, inference infrastructure and enterprise AI products tailored for Indian languages and use cases. Earlier this year, the startup was selected by the central government to develop India's first sovereign foundation AI model under the IndiaAI Mission, positioning it at the centre of the country's push to build indigenous AI capabilities.

 

The latest fundraise comes a little over a month after Sarvam AI entered the unicorn club following a $234 million Series B round led by HCLTech and Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Khosla Ventures and Peak XV Partners.

 

The round resulted in HCLTech acquiring a 10.46 per cent stake in the startup, making it the company's lead strategic investor.

 

Sarvam is now one of only two Indian AI startups to attain unicorn status, alongside Bhavish Aggarwal-founded Krutrim.

 

The fresh capital comes as the company ramps up efforts to build a trillion-plus parameter foundation AI model. Last week, the founders announced plans to train the model on a cluster of 10,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs for applications spanning coding, cybersecurity and scientific research.