Gnani.ai raises $10 million in funding from Aavishkaar Capital to scale global voice AI push

Gnani.ai, a voice-first AI startup operating out of Bengaluru, has successfully secured $10 million (approximately ₹94 crore) in funding from Aavishkaar Capital as part of its ongoing Series B financing round. Existing investor Info Edge Ventures has also contributed an undisclosed amount to the initiative. This investment aims to bolster the company's global expansion efforts and enhance its sovereign AI capabilities. According to Ganesh Gopalan, co-founder and CEO of Gnani.ai, the funding round is still open for further investments. Info Edge previously invested around $4 million (₹30 crore) in the startup. Established in 2016 by Gopalan and Ananth Nagaraj, Gnani.ai has developed a comprehensive AI stack that includes speech recognition, voice synthesis, and a proprietary speech-to-speech model with 14 billion parameters. The company currently handles over 30 million voice interactions daily in more than 12 languages, serving over 200 enterprise clients, including prominent banks and insurance companies. Gopalan stated that the funds will be directed towards expanding the company’s international presence and enhancing its research and development capabilities. "We've already made inroads into markets in Japan and the Far East, along with working with customers in the Middle East and the U.S.," he explained. This new capital injection is crucial for strengthening R&D efforts and deepening relationships with customers globally. Despite its ambitious growth plans, Gnani.ai remains committed to financial prudence. The company achieved EBITDA profitability in FY25, with revenue surging from ₹23.09 crore the previous year to ₹53.87 crore. It also turned a net profit of ₹3.19 crore, bouncing back from a loss of ₹51 lakh in FY24. The investment from Aavishkaar Capital reflects a growing belief in the potential of deep-tech and sovereign AI. Shilpa Maheshwari, Managing Director at Aavishkaar Capital, noted that deep-tech is increasingly vital in addressing significant societal challenges. She emphasized that the investment is also rooted in India’s linguistic diversity, which aligns with Gnani.ai's multilingual capabilities and its mission to deploy AI models for underserved communities. Focusing on the voice interface sector, Gnani.ai is carving out a unique position in the AI landscape, which often emphasizes text-based systems. Gopalan stated, "Voice is the most natural form of human communication, and we are developing a voice-to-voice large language model (LLM) that eliminates intermediate steps like speech-to-text, enhancing performance and accuracy." He further highlighted that enterprise adoption of voice AI is already yielding significant returns on investment, with the company collaborating with numerous enterprises to improve efficiency and drive revenue growth. In response to competition from global tech giants, Gopalan stressed the importance of localized AI development, asserting, "We are here building sovereign AI, which aligns with the concept of true Swaraj. Our performance benchmarks demonstrate that we outperform several global companies across various languages, proving our capability to make a substantial impact in business and government sectors."