Sarvam AI, regarded as a frontrunner in India’s generative AI space, has quickly made its mark despite being a relatively young company. Legally incorporated as Axonwise Private Limited, the company has already secured $53 million in funding from prominent investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Venture Highway, along with select corporate and angel investors.
What sets Sarvam AI apart is its focus on building foundational AI technology from the ground up. Instead of relying on existing models, the company is developing its own algorithms, architectures, training techniques, and curated datasets—laying the groundwork for India-centric GenAI applications. The vision, as reflected in the Sanskrit word Sarvam (meaning “all”), is to create AI that is as transformative for India as UPI has been for digital payments. “We want to build GenAI that a billion Indians can use,” explains co-founder Vivek Raghavan.
Raghavan and fellow co-founder Pratyush Kumar align with the philosophy articulated by Nandan Nilekani in an IMF paper: that India’s AI development, much like UPI, will be tailored to the unique needs of its vast population. Already, Sarvam’s AI solutions are attracting interest not just within India but also in global markets, from Africa to Singapore.
A Comprehensive AI Stack for Real-World Impact
Sarvam AI is taking a full-stack approach, building everything from foundational AI models to user-friendly applications that address practical challenges. A key focus is linguistic diversity—essential in a country where people often communicate in a blend of regional languages and English. Recognizing this, Sarvam has prioritized voice-based AI solutions.
The company has already launched several enterprise-grade voice AI tools and introduced Sarvam 2B, an open-source text-based language model trained on 2 billion parameters, with a strong emphasis on Indian languages. “India should have its own sovereign AI stack—not just the ability to operate it, but also the expertise to build it,” says Kumar.
By developing AI tailored for India’s unique needs, Sarvam AI is setting the stage for a future where generative AI is truly accessible to a billion people.
