AI startup Krutrim SI Designs raised $24 M Debt funding from Matrix Partners
Bhavish Aggarwal, a co-founder of Ola, has perfected the art of fundraising, and the numbers speak for themselves. Ola collected over $1 billion for his electric vehicle company Ola Electric after amassing several billion dollars. And now Matrix Partners, a common and early investor in all three startups, has given his artificial intelligence company Krutrim SI Designs a $24 million debt.
According to regulatory documents with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the board of directors at Krutrim SI Designs has approved a special resolution to issue 38,901 Series A and 19,67,61,099 Series B debentures with a face value of Rs 10 each to raise Rs 197 crore, or roughly $24 million.
This year, the company was in discussions to raise $50–100 million. This round is anticipated to see investments up to $100 million due to Matrix already being involved and the probable participation of Ola’s current investors.
In the future, possibly when Krutrim SI Designs raises equity capital, the convertible debentures of Matrix will be converted into equity shares.
Tenneti Venugopala Krishnamurthy served as a co-founder when Krutrim SI Designs was founded in April of this year. The parent firm of Ola, ANI Technologies, has had Krishnamurthy on its board for a very long time. Aggarwal has reportedly been in contact with numerous businesses based in the US and India for purchase in the AI sector, according to media sources.
According to sources, Krutrim SI Designs will assist in developing and supporting Ola Electric’s operations. Aggarwal said that the new company will concentrate on developing silicon chips, a cloud infrastructure to offer solutions to clients, and AI models in a recent interview.
Ola Electric, which is planning an IPO, is also seeking a sizable amount of money and has already received $157 million in a current Series E financing.
Following the success of platforms like ChatGPT, there has been a renewed interest in the field of artificial intelligence, and India is attempting to take advantage of the trend. It is also important to note that India is concentrating on chips, a sector that has experienced tremendous growth since the recent AI surge.
A $10 billion incentive for domestic chip production has already been announced by the government.
An agreement to develop cloud-based AI infrastructure in the nation was announced last month by Jio Platforms, a division of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries. Vedanta has entered the fray as well, with plans to start producing chips from its factory in around 2.5 years.
