Introduction:

Challenging global giants like ChatGPT, Sarvam AI is an emerging Indian AI startup. The company creates AI solutions by using the country’s rich multilingual and cultural diversity. Sarvam AI was founded when Raghavan and Pratyush identified the market gap in the already existing AI models and launched Sarvam. 

This company is working on generative AI models for multiple Indian languages. Available in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and more, Sarvam AI brings cutting-edge technology to more than 1.4 billion people. With the growing need to build a sovereign AI ecosystem tailored for India and to fill the digital gap, the startup was established. The article dives deep into the evolution of Sarvam AI and the team behind it. We will also see how it changed India’s digital space.

The journey of Sarvam AI

The idea of making AI accessible to everyone, regardless of language or region, gave birth to India’s own AI model. The startup emerged from an already existing startup, AI4Bharat, where Pratyush and his team developed tools for Indian language AI. Pratyush and Raghavan met each other in 2019 through Manish Gupta, the director of Google Research India. Their collaboration led to Sarvam AI’s formation in 2023. 

The company quickly gained the attention of investors and secured $41 million in Series A funding from Lightspeed Ventures, Peak XV Partners, and Khosla Ventures. This was the largest investment raised by an Indian AI startup, showing investor’s trust in Sarvam’s vision and business model. 

Sarvam AI launched OpenHathi-Hi-0.1 in December 2023, making it India’s first open-source Hindi language model based on Meta’s Llama 2-7B. By 2024, the startup launched a full-stack generative AI platform with features including Sarvam Agents, Sarvam 2B, and more. Four months ago, Sarvam AI was selected by the Indian government under the IndiaAI Mission to build India’s first indigenous large language model (LLM), to develop the nation’s AI ecosystem.

Founders’ early life and education

The Indian AI startup founded by Dr. Vivek Raghavan and Dr. Pratyush Kumar, Sarvam AI, is leading India’s AI market. Vivek Raghavan is an influential name in the digital world. He was part of the team that built Aadhaar, India’s largest identity program. He is an IIT (Madras) alumnus with expertise in scalable technology solutions. While working at Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), he got hands-on experience in building a scalable application used by millions. 

Pratyush Kumar is the co-founder of Sarvam AI with a strong academic and research background. He is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and holds a PhD in computer engineering from ETH Zurich. Pratyush also worked with industry-leading companies such as IBM and Microsoft, where he contributed to artificial intelligence technology. Pratyush co-founded an IIT-Madras-based research initiative called AI4Bharat, focused on open-source Indian language AI. Let’s see how their combined expertise in AI research and engineering laid the groundwork for Sarvam AI.

Funding and business model

The $41 million Series A round in December 2023 for Sarvam AI was a game changer. It provided the startup with the capital it needed to hire top talent and invest in AI models. The startup is focused on two main areas: Conversational AI Solutions, including voice-based agents to handle customer service for businesses like Zomato. 

The feature provides a chatbot available for one rupee per minute, making it cost-effective. The customers can also engage in the chat in various Indian languages. Another focus area is building AI-based productivity tools for the government by collaborating with NITI Aayog. These tools analyze massive amounts of publicly available data and produce real-time insights that can be useful for policymakers. 

What’s the mission of Sarvam AI?

The aim of Sarvam AI is to make a sovereign AI ecosystem that represents the linguistic diversity and cultural heritage of India. The startup was named after the Sanskrit word “Sarvam,” meaning all, an indication that the startup is committed to making AI accessible to all Indians. Especially people in rural India, who can’t speak English. Sarvam AI is focused on voice-based interfaces in multiple regional languages, meeting India’s diverse culture. 

Overcoming Challenges 

Sarvam AI was the first of its kind AI project in India, so it faced several new challenges in its journey to rival global AI giants. The biggest hurdle was the lack of high-quality training data for Indian languages. The startup tackled this by creating Sarvam 2T, a 2-trillion-token dataset. They used synthetic data techniques to ensure depth and diversity in the data.

Another challenge was competition from global players like DeepSeek and OpenAI. While going against high-budget AI players, Sarvam AI used India’s low-cost infrastructure and local expertise to stay competitive. The company also faced criticism for its slower initial adoption of Sarvam-M; however, Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu and others supported them in uncertain times by pointing out that transformative products require patience and time.

Recent developments:

The startup introduced Sarvam-M in May this year. It is a 24-billion-parameter hybrid model built on Mistral Small, excelling in Indian languages, math, and coding. Despite lower initial downloads, Sarvam-M achieved an 86% improvement in tasks blending math and Indian languages. The startup also announced three model variants: Sarvam-Large for advanced reasoning, Sarvam-Small for real-time tasks, and Sarvam-Edge for on-device applications, showcasing its commitment to building scalable and India-centric AI solutions.

The future and road ahead:

Sarvam AI aims to deliver its sovereign LLM within six months under the IndiaAI Mission. The company also plans to expand its offerings and partnerships with enterprises and government bodies. The startup will be refining its voice-based AI while exporting its solutions to the global market. By 2040, co-founder Pratyush Kumar aims to make India a hub for world-class AI development. Sarvam AI strengthens its position as the leader in India’s AI revolution with the support of the government.  

Conclusion:

Sarvam AI is India’s bold step toward making AI accessible for every Indian. It is redefining the country’s digital future by embracing diversity and prioritizing affordability. Sarvam AI is redefining what AI can achieve in a nation of over a billion people. The company not only rivals global AI giants but also empowers businesses and governments. In the article, we talked about Sarvam AI’s journey, its mission, business model, and how it replaced ChatGPT in India. 

FAQs:

What is Sarvam AI?

Sarvam AI is an Indian startup founded in 2023 that builds generative AI models supporting multiple Indian languages, competing with ChatGPT.

Who founded Sarvam AI?

The founders are Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, both AI experts with extensive academic and industry experience.

Which languages does Sarvam AI support?

It supports 10 Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam, and Odia.

How is Sarvam AI funded?

The startup raised $40 million in a Series A round in 2023 from venture capital firms to support its growth.

Is Sarvam suitable for voice-based services?

Yes — Sarvam’s stack includes voice IVR and phone-friendly models tuned for accents and conversational speech.

How does Sarvam address safety and misinformation?

Through human review for sensitive use cases, domain-specific filters, and enterprise controls that let customers set guardrails.

Why choose Sarvam over global models?

Choose Sarvam when you need better vernacular understanding, localization for cultural nuance, and easier integration for region-focused deployments.

Can Sarvam be used in government projects?

Yes — its models can power citizen helplines, multilingual portals, and localized public messaging when properly deployed with oversight.

What are the main technical challenges Sarvam faces?

Key challenges include collecting high-quality data for low-resource languages, scaling compute for model training, and continuous product refinement.

How can a business get started with Sarvam?

Businesses typically contact Sarvam’s sales or developer relations to evaluate APIs, run pilot deployments, and plan integrations.