Artificial intelligence, advancing rapidly in India and expanding across sectors, has also emerged as a prominent focus for venture capital investment.

A TOI report said that these funds are allocating a large share of investment dollars to AI startups. The use of AI as a tech tool isn’t new, but why it’s gaining investor interest is because its use cases are growing – in India, for example, founders are now leading AI for consumers. I’m looking beyond enterprise tech to develop solutions.

Lahoti, on partner Stellaris Venture Partnerssaid the firm will double AI investment this year. “Most of the tech pitches we see these days are from AI startups. But what’s most encouraging is that we’re starting to see a lot of things. AI – The First Business Also building for users. We are seeing AI companies being built in content, gaming, astrology, health and elsewhere. They are offering hyper-personalized experiences in local languages ​​at affordable prices,” Lahuti told TOI.

Lightspeed has invested more than $2 billion in more than 100 companies globally over the past year and that trend will continue in 2025, said Hemant Mohapatra, partner at the VC firm, which has invested in startups like Qure AI, Zepto and PhysicsWallah. Companies are supported. The number of pure-play AI startups in India (which are building basic AI core models) is not as high as it is today – estimates suggest there may be a few thousand of them but the ecosystem will grow. Anil said, “AI solutions are highly dependent on good technical resources, which is not an issue in India. The country will generally be a major contributor in the AI ​​space, whether it is pure play or other products or solutions. As part of the offer,” said Anil. Joshi, managing partner at Unicorn India Ventures, which has around 40% of its portfolio companies building in the AI ​​space.

Bhavesh Aggarwal’s Krutrim AI, already valued at $1 billion, and Peak XV Partners-backed Sarvam AI are among the Indian startups building AI models. AI startups (including pure-play AI companies as well as startups with strong AI use cases) received $1.2 billion in funding from investors last year, according to data from a market research firm. Venture Intelligence Showed

Gaurav Kothari, principal of Process, said AI is at the innovation stage in India and will dominate startup funding in 2025. “AI companies that have demonstrated strong traction and clear signs of product-market fit will attract significant growth capital,” he said. Sandeep Murthy, MD, Lightbox India Advisors, said they would be keen to invest in consumer tech startups that are using AI effectively. “We believe that tech-focused funds backed by enterprise tech, SaaS models will see AI as the core of their investment thesis in 2025,” Murthy said.(with TOI input)