After making a fortune in Indian e-commerce, billionaire Binny Bansal is all set to launch an AI-as-a-service startup in order to target the global customers while expanding to the fast-growing segment.
Launch Of Stealth AI Startup
For the unawares, Bansal co-founded online retailer Flipkart and sold it to Walmart Inc.
Now, he has hired 15 experts for the venture — mostly artificial intelligence scientists and plans to quickly add more, according to the sources.
With this move, he is aspiring to offer AI talent, products and services to corporate customers, emulating the business model of outsourcing providers like Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Infosys Ltd., sources said on the condition of anonymity.
In further implementation, they plan to set up its main operations in Bengaluru.
It will be headquartered in Singapore, where it’s in stealth mode for now and will launch its offerings within months, the people said.
Further stages, the company plans to expand to the US, one of the sources said.
How Does This Help?
Considering the latest trend, companies all over the world are looking to harness AI, encouraged by new tools such as the ChatGPT chatbot from Microsoft Corp.-backed OpenAI Inc.
This in turn resulted in huge demand for AI specialists.
So, Bansal is looking to tap India’s vast English-speaking, youthful population to train more experts for new types of AI services.
Bansal will target the legal and e-commerce industries first, while playing his cards close to his vest as to the exact products he plans to offer.
So far, this startup plans to offer services in the fields of financial services and data science and analytics.
In its planning, the startup aims to roll out products and services and begin marketing in the second half of 2024.
So far, Bansal has declined to comment on this subject.
After selling his Bengaluru-based internet company, the billionaire moved to Singapore and now shuttles between the cities.
In simple words, this AI startup will focus on training talent and offering services from India’s smaller cities, where the cost of living is lower.
Binny Bansal and his Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal (no relation) graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and worked at Amazon.com Inc. before quitting in their mid-twenties.
