Aditya Birla Ventures, the private capital investment arm of the Aditya Birla Group, said on Thursday that it was one of the investors backing a $70 million Series B funding round in US-based AI startup Articul8.
Though the company didn't disclose the amount it has invested, the bet makes the metals-to-fashion conglomerate the latest to join an increasing number of India’s top business groups venturing into artificial intelligence (AI), even as concerns grow that the technology may be overhyped.
The Santa Clara, California-headquartered startup, which claimed to have hit a valuation of “over $500 million” with this funding round, specializes in offering companies AI models that run in silos and within their own IT servers, in a bid to address concerns of data leakage.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the group will integrate Articul8’s AI platform into its services, which span cement, fashion, lending and insurance, metals, paint, and telecommunications.
Aryaman Birla, founder of Aditya Birla Ventures and the son of the group's chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, said, in a press statement, the company had “strong belief and conviction in the founding team, and the investment aligns with our vision to back outstanding founders building global businesses of tomorrow”.
Mint’s attempt to reach Arun Subramaniyan, co-founder and chief executive of Articul8, did not immediately elicit a response.
The AI wave
On 9 October, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said in its September quarter earnings call that it would invest up to $6.5 billion to build a 1 gigawatt (GW) data centre specifically for AI workloads. On 20 November, it disclosed $1 billion in funding from a US-based asset management firm, TPG, for Tata’s AI data centre play.
“India stands at a pivotal point in history. Global trade and supply chains are in a state of flux. Our demographics promise a sweet spot of unparalleled talent availability for many decades ahead. AI promises to change everything, again, much as the internet did. For our nation, more than others, this moment of flux can be a catalyst for accelerated progress,” said Tata Sons' chairman N. Chandrasekaran in the conglomerate’s 107th annual general meeting (AGM).
On 26 November, Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) data centre joint venture, Digital Connexion, also announced a 1GW data centre at an investment of $11 billion over five years.
Earlier, on 28 August, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani announced Reliance Intelligence, a subsidiary dedicated to AI.
“A decade ago, digital services became a new growth engine for RIL. Now, the opportunity before us with AI is just as large, if not larger. Jio promised and delivered digital everywhere and for every Indian. Similarly, Reliance Intelligence promises to deliver AI everywhere for every Indian,” Ambani said at the company’s 48th annual general meeting in 2025.
On 14 October, the Adani Group partnered with Google in its $15-billion AI data-centre push.
Larsen & Toubro, India’s largest engineering conglomerate, also told Mint on the same day that it would invest up to $3 billion in the next three years to build its AI data-centre infrastructure.
The moves by Indian conglomerates show how AI is becoming a foundational infrastructure across industries, according to experts. “It’s natural that India’s top conglomerates would want in-house AI capabilities. Alongside cost arbitrage, this increases their ability to make early strides in AI, offer AI applications and solutions to clients, and potentially create new business areas," said Kashyap Kompella, veteran analyst and founder of technology consultancy firm, RPA2AI Research.
"While there are concerns around an AI bubble, most of it is centred around infrastructure—as far as applications and workflows are concerned, there’s hardly any doubt that AI will be transformational,” Kompella added.