Sarvam Al becomes a unicorn after raising $234 million led by HCLTech.
Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup Sarvam AI has officially entered the unicorn club after
raising $234 million in the first close of its Series B funding round at a valuation of $1.5 billion. The round was led by HCLTech, which invested approximately $150 million for a 10.5 percent stake in the company. The startup is expected to raise up to $300 million in total as part of the ongoing round.
The funding marks one of the largest investments ever made in an Indian AI startup and signals growing confidence in India’s efforts to build homegrown artificial intelligence capabilities. The investment also represents one of the biggest strategic bets by a major Indian IT services company on the country’s emerging AI ecosystem.
Founded in 2023 by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, Sarvam AI focuses on building sovereign AI technologies tailored for India. The company develops large language models, speech systems, translation tools and AI applications designed to work across multiple Indian languages. It has positioned itself as a key player in India’s push for indigenous AI infrastructure and models.
The milestone comes as investor interest in India’s artificial intelligence sector continues to grow. Earlier this year, reports indicated that Sarvam AI was in talks to raise a major funding round as investors evaluated the commercial prospects of India’s emerging AI sector. The startup later secured strong backing from HCLTech and other investors, raising $234 million at a $1.5 billion valuation and officially becoming a unicorn.
Over the past year, Sarvam AI has launched several products and models aimed at competing with global AI players while focusing on Indian use cases. The company unveiled its Sarvam 30B and Sarvam 105B large language models, expanded its speech and translation technologies and partnered with government and enterprise initiatives to support India’s AI ecosystem.
Sarvam was also selected under the IndiaAI Mission to contribute to the development of indigenous foundational AI models, further strengthening its role in India’s AI strategy. The startup’s technology supports multiple Indian languages and is designed for large-scale public and enterprise applications.
With a valuation of $1.5 billion, Sarvam AI now joins the ranks of India’s unicorn startups and becomes one of the country’s most valuable AI companies. The funding round is being viewed as a major milestone for India’s AI industry, demonstrating that investors are increasingly willing to back domestic companies building foundational AI technologies rather than relying solely on global platforms.
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