Bhavish Aggarwal Launches His New Startup - Indian Startup News 188
TLDRThe Indian startup scene is booming with AI-focused companies like Coover, Sovam AI, and Crum AI leading the charge in developing AI models for Indian languages. Crum AI, in particular, has made significant strides, training its language model on two trillion tokens, though it's smaller than OpenAI's GPT-4. Bish, the man behind Crum AI, has ambitious plans to build an entire AI stack for India. Meanwhile, Aether Energy teases its new electric scooter, the 450 Apex, and Bloom Ventures reveals the success of its India-focused fund, despite 50% of its portfolio companies failing. The script also touches on the challenges faced by payment service providers Razor Pay and Cash Free, as well as the introduction of a new fee by Swiggy and the layoffs in India's startup ecosystem.
Takeaways
- 🇮🇳 Indian startups are increasingly focusing on AI models for Indian languages, with companies like Coover, Sovam AI, and Crum AI leading the charge.
- 🚀 Crum AI's Indian language LLM is trained on over two trillion tokens, aiming to outperform ChatGPT-4 in six Indian languages.
- 🤖 Crum AI's ambition is to build the entire AI stack for India, including silicon chips, cloud infrastructure, and Indian language AI models.
- 💡 Bish, the founder of Ola and backer of Crum AI, is pursuing multiple ventures, drawing comparisons to Elon Musk's diversified business approach.
- 🛵 Aether Energy is preparing to launch the Aether 450 Apex electric scooter with a unique 'warp plus' technology.
- 💹 Bloom Ventures' India-focused fund has seen significant returns despite 50% of their portfolio companies failing.
- 📈 Bloom Ventures found greater success investing in NCR-based startups compared to the traditionally favored Bangalore startups.
- 🚫 Razorpay and Cash Free have been given the green light to onboard new merchants after a year-long pause by the RBI.
- 🍽️ Swiggy has introduced a 2% collection fee on orders from restaurant partners, which has been met with some resistance from the National Restaurants Association of India.
- 📊 2023 has been a challenging year for India's startup ecosystem, with 28,000 employees laid off as companies prioritize survival and profitability.
- 💰 Indian startups experienced a significant drop in fundraising, with only $18.6 million raised in a particularly weak week for investments.
Q & A
Why is there a sudden surge in Indian startups focusing on AI models for Indian languages?
-The surge is due to the growing recognition of the importance of local language AI models to cater to the diverse linguistic needs of the Indian population, as well as the potential for innovation and market growth in this sector.
What sets Crum AI apart from other AI models like Chat GPT-4?
-Crum AI is distinguished by its focus on Indian languages, claiming to outperform Chat GPT-4 in six Indian languages. It understands over 20 Indian languages and can create content in 10 of them. Additionally, Crum AI is building its own language model from scratch, unlike some other models that use pre-existing models like Meta's LLaMA.
How long did it take for Crum AI to develop its Indian language LLM?
-Crum AI managed to develop its language model in just three months, which is a relatively short time compared to the development周期 of other models like Open AI's Chat GPT.
What is Bish's vision for Crum AI beyond just language models?
-Bish's vision for Crum AI is to build the entire AI stack for India, which includes everything from silicon chips used to power AI to cloud infrastructure and Indian language AI models, making it a very ambitious and comprehensive project.
What is Aether Energy's new product, the Aether 450 Apex, expected to offer?
-The Aether 450 Apex is expected to feature a new technology called 'warp plus,' which is claimed to enable riding with almost no braking. However, the exact nature of this technology has not been fully disclosed yet.
How has Bloom Ventures' first India-focused fund performed in terms of returns?
-Bloom Ventures' first fund made a 5.7x return on an investment of 114 crores, generating 651 crores in returns. This was achieved despite 50% of their portfolio companies failing and just 17 companies accounting for 98% of the returns.
Which region did Bloom Ventures find more profitable for investments compared to Bangalore?
-Bloom Ventures found that their investments in startups based in NCR (National Capital Region) were more profitable, yielding almost a 15x return, compared to a 2.4x return from Bangalore-based startups.
What was the impact of the RBI's decision on Razor Pay and Cash Free's business?
-The RBI's decision to halt new merchant onboarding for Razor Pay and Cash Free for a year resulted in significant losses, with Razor Pay potentially having to turn away at least 7.2 lakh merchants during that period.
What new fee has Swiggy introduced for its restaurant partners?
-Swiggy has introduced a 2% collection fee on all orders from its restaurant partners, which is essentially a payment gateway fee that Swiggy has previously absorbed but is now passing on to the partners.
How has the startup ecosystem in India been affected by layoffs in 2023?
-In 2023, Indian startups have laid off 28,000 employees as companies focus on survival and profitability. This trend has been worsening as funding has declined from the previous year's high.
Which startup raised funds despite having a significant revenue of 1,400 crores in revenue?
-Noise, a consumer electronics startup, raised an undisclosed amount of funds in their Series A round, marking their first-ever funding round despite having a substantial revenue.
Outlines
🚀 Indian AI Startups and Bish's Ambitions
This paragraph discusses the rise of Indian startups focusing on AI models for Indian languages, such as Cover, Sovam AI, and Crum AI. Crum AI's Indian language LLM is trained on over two trillion tokens, though smaller than GPT-4's 13 trillion. Crum AI aims to outperform GPT-4 in six Indian languages and understand over 20, while creating content in 10. The company is building its AI stack from scratch, with Bish, the founder, having a vision to revolutionize India's AI, EV, and ride-hailing sectors, drawing comparisons to Elon Musk.
🛵 Aether Energy's New Electric Scooter and Bloom Ventures' Success
Aether Energy is gearing up to launch the Aether 450 Apex electric scooter, with unique 'warp plus' technology. Bloom Ventures, an India-focused VC fund, has achieved a 5.7x return on investment despite 50% of their portfolio companies failing. Their top investments were in companies like Gray Orange and Carbon Clean, which were not funded by other Indian VCs. Interestingly, Bloom found more success with startups based in NCR rather than Bangalore.
💳 Razor Pay and Cash Free's Regulatory Hurdles
Razor Pay and Cash Free faced a year-long delay in onboarding new merchants due to RBI regulations. Razor Pay lost potential merchant signups, while Cash Free missed out on leads from their Shark Tank India partnership. InstaMojo had to shut down its payment aggregator business after RBI rejected their license.
🍽️ Swiggy's New Fee and India's Startup Layoffs
Swiggy has introduced a 2% collection fee for restaurant partners, which has been met with resistance from the National Restaurants Association of India. The fee is an industry standard, similar to what Zomato has been charging for years. Meanwhile, 2023 has seen significant layoffs in India's startup ecosystem, with 28,000 employees fired as companies focus on survival and profitability.
💼 Funding News and Indian Startups' Performance
Indian startups raised $18.6 million in a week, marking one of the worst fundraising weeks of the year. Notable funding rounds include lithium-ion battery recycling startup Bat X Energy's $5 million pre-series A round, CRM platform Capture CX's $4 million series A round, food and restaurant discovery platform Hoggler's $1.2 million seed round, and consumer electronics startup Noise's undisclosed series A round, their first-ever funding.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Indian startups
💡AI models
💡Indian languages LLM (Language Learning Model)
💡Token
💡Bish
💡EV (Electric Vehicle) space
💡Aether Energy
💡VC (Venture Capital)
💡RBI (Reserve Bank of India)
💡Payment Aggregator
💡Layoffs
Highlights
Indian startups are increasingly focusing on AI models for Indian languages.
Coover is building a GPT-like model, and Sovam AI has raised $41 million for an Indian language LLM.
Crum AI's Indian language LLM is trained on over two trillion tokens, smaller than Chat GPT-4's 13 trillion.
Crum AI claims to outperform Chat GPT-4 in six Indian languages and understand over 20 Indian languages.
Crum AI is building their LLM from scratch, unlike Sarom AI which uses Meta's LLaMA 27B model.
Bish, the backer of Crum AI, aims to build the entire AI stack for India, including silicon chips and cloud infrastructure.
Aether Energy is teasing their new Aether 450 Apex electric scooter with unique warp plus technology.
Bloom Ventures' India-focused fund has seen a 5.7x return on investment despite 50% of portfolio companies failing.
Bloom Ventures found success with NCR-based startups, which outperformed Bangalore-based ones.
Razor Pay and Cash Free can now onboard new customers after a year-long wait for RBI approval.
Insta Mojo had to shut down their payment aggregator business after RBI rejected their license.
Swiggy introduces a 2% collection fee on all orders from restaurant partners.
2023 has been a challenging year for India's startup ecosystem with 28,000 employees laid off.
Indian startups raised $18.6 million in funding, down from $57.1 million the previous week.
Bat X Energies, a lithium-ion battery recycling startup, raised $5 million in their pre-series A round.
Capture CX, a CRM platform, raised $4 million in their series A round.
Hoger, a food and restaurant discovery platform, raised $1.2 million in their seed round.
Noise, a consumer electronics startup, raised an undisclosed amount in their series A round after bootstrapping to 1,400 crores in revenue.