Activate

Watch the full podcast here: youtu.be/c25WBrxHsow

The AI Revolution Actually Began in 2010s - A Decade Before ChatGPT!

Watch the full podcast here: youtu.be/c25WBrxHsow

India Had No Real GPU Demand Before 2023": How ChatGPT Changed India's Data Center Industry

In Signal Dialogues #03, we discuss what it actually takes to build India's AI infrastructure. Aakrit Vaish, Founder of Activate, sits down with two founders who are doing exactly that. Srikanth Velamakanni took Fractal public in India's first AI IPO. Sharad Sanghi raised $1.2B from Blackstone to build Neysa AI. Together, they've spent 50+ years at the intersection of data, compute and India. If you're a founder, investor or builder betting on India's AI future, this one's for you. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 2:51 - Fractal's IPO & Neysa's Blackstone Deal 9:31 - From Math to Machine Learning 12:45 - When Deep Learning Started Beating Humans 14:46 - Data Centers: 3kW to 150kW Per Rack 18:05 - First GPUs Were Gaming Laptops 21:13 - When ChatGPT Changed Everything 33:27 - Sovereign AI Without Hundreds of Billions 37:25 - Early Success, Peak Fear 40:42 - AGI by 2029 44:50 - 50,000 to 2 Million GPUs by 2030 50:48 - Why Horizontal AI Fails in India 53:15 - Proxy Metrics for India's AI Growth 1:00:57 - Cost of Capital vs Cost of Labor 1:06:25 - More AI IPOs From India? 1:09:43 - Closing Thoughts @aakrit @srikanth @sharad_sanghi @fractalai

Hosted a small dinner with early-stage Indian diaspora founders in San Francisco last Friday and came away genuinely excited! Across browser agents, AI for Taxation, Coding Agent Tools, Physical AI and of course Voice AI - the breadth & ambition of what Indian founders are building in Silicon Valley is incredible. Big thanks to Sudarshan (@kamath_sutra) and the @smallest_AI team for curating this group.

@smallest_AI @thesysdev @vitraai @SarvamAI @MyelinFoundry @scalekitinc @qpiai @netrasemi @SimplismartHQ @truefoundry @_orbo @anscerrobotics @ati_motors @NiqoRobotics @getpeppermint @RoboticsUnbox @GetPresentAI @invideoOfficial

Who are the top players driving AI innovation in India? This landscape map breaks down 100 top AI start-ups across SaaS, Health, MarTech and Foundation Models. Link to the full report: zinnov.com/innovation/100… #IndiaAI #ArtificialIntelligence #Startups

@HABER_TECH @pre6ai @planystech @fleetx_io @intangles @Kissan_AI @IntelloLabs @LexlegisAI @spotdraftHQ @multiplieraisol @OnFinance_ai @karya_inc @MikoRobot @Pixis_AI @spyne_ai @switchontech @TurboHire @composio @emergentlabs @GreyLabsAI @VisualDub_ai @AI_NURIX @PortkeyAI

@WriteSonic @5C_Network @BrainSightAI @ekacareHQ @qure_ai @sigtuple @wysabuddy @DozeeHealth @niramaianalytix @rapidclaims_ai @SPRY575503 @Arivihan @expertrons @thespeakx @StimulerApp @seekhoapp @AiAssert @entropik_io @themathcompany @observeAI @CoRover_App @GnaniAi @yellowdotai

@meetaugustai @gallabox @metaformsai @kenytinc @bolna_dev @Lucio_AI @AlltiusAi @Aeos_Labs @AgraniLabsInc @Krutrim @RocketlaneHQ @ringg_ai @getconvinAi @atomicworkhq @soketlabs @sifthubhq @beatovenai @DevnagriAI @flamappofficial @peppertype_ai @Predis_AI @GanAIOfficial @phot_ai

Signal Dialogues #02: Aakrit Vaish, Founder of Activate Signal, sits down with Tanay Kothari, Co-Founder & CEO of Wispr Flow. They go over: what it takes to build one of the most loved consumer AI products in the world pivoting from a $21M brain-computer interface company to a 50-person rocketship why Apple and Google failed at voice for 14 years solving Hinglish when no one else could obsessing over onboarding for the first 500 users why they stopped tracking ARR making India their second-largest market and the future of voice-first computing. If you are a builder in AI, this might be top 1% of podcasts when it comes to signal-noise ratio. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro: Building Jarvis From 5th Grade in Delhi to Voice AI 11:14 - The Pivot: From Brain-Computer Interface to Consumer Software 19:22 - First 1000 Users & the Consumer Growth Playbook 32:57 - Metrics That Matter: Why ARR Isn't the Top Number 43:05 - Why India Is Whisper's Biggest Bet @aakrit @tankots

The blueprint for India’s AI dominance is officially LIVE 🇮🇳 On Wednesday, Aakrit Vaish (@aakrit) joined M R Rangaswami (@mrsandhill) & Pari Natarajan (@parinatarajan) at the Indiaspora Global AI Summit to launch the India's 100 Top AI Start-ups Report 2026, co-authored by Activate, @Zinnov and @IndiasporaForum. The data is striking: ⚡ 45 startups are at the $5M–$50M inflection point. ⚡ Over half of India's top founders are building without institutional capital. ⚡ 1.4B people. Only 4 foundation models. This isn't just a report; it's a $126B roadmap for the Global South. The next 18 months will decide the category kings. Full report here: zinnov.com/innovation/100…

From OTPs killing conversions to AI agents managing your bank accounts before EMI day: Khilan Haria, CPO of Razorpay, laid out why agentic commerce is India's biggest e-commerce shift since UPI at AI Engineers Day. 50 million real shoppers today. 400 million payment users waiting. The bridge is AI — vernacular, voice-first, agent-to-agent. A sincere thank you to our partners at OpenAI & Peak XV for helping us bring India's AI builder ecosystem together on one stage. @OpenAI @peakxvpartners Timestamps: 0:26 - The Evolution of Digital Commerce: From IRCTC to Chatbots 3:47 - India Has Only 50 Million Real Online Shoppers 7:09 - Why India Is More Ready for Agentic Commerce Than the West 8:20 - Audience Q&A: EMI Agents, Browsing vs Search & Startup Business Models.