India’s AI agent market is separating into winners and wreckage on the same news cycle.
Premji Invest (backed by Infosys founder Azim Premji’s family office) is in advanced discussions to join a $250 million funding round in vibe coding platform Emergent at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to Economic Times. That represents a 5x valuation jump in roughly three months. Emergent raised $70 million from Khosla Ventures and SoftBank at a $300 million valuation barely a quarter ago.
The round’s investor roster signals conviction: Bengaluru-based Creaegis is expected to co-lead, Accel is in early-stage discussions, and existing investors are expected to participate. “Few startups are scaling at this pace,” one source told ET.
Krutrim’s Collapse
On the other end, Bhavish Aggarwal’s Ola Krutrim is unwinding. The company has shut down its Kruti AI agent platform, pulling it from Google Play, Apple App Store, and the web. The Bodhi 1 chip, once expected to ship in 2026, has been scrapped entirely.
The human cost is concrete: Krutrim eliminated more than 60 roles from its linguistics team in January, effectively dismantling its data-annotation workforce. Over 200 employees from that team have been let go since 2025, per ET reporting. Work on AI models and semiconductor projects is paused amid funding constraints and leadership churn.
The Broader Pattern
India expects at least two new AI unicorns this year. April 2026 saw $56 billion in global AI funding. The capital is flowing, but it’s concentrating around companies with demonstrated traction rather than spreading across ambitious roadmaps.
Sarvam (Indic language models) is separately in talks to raise over $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation with backing from Glade Brook Capital, Nvidia, Amazon, and HCL Technologies, according to ET. Two potential unicorns scaling up while a full-stack competitor dismantles its product lineup: India’s AI market is past the “fund everything” phase and into selection pressure.