India’s first GenAI unicorn shifts to cloud services as AI model ambitions face reality
Krutrim, India's first GenAI unicorn, is pivoting from AI model development to cloud services following a business overhaul in late 2025 that included reallocating resources and pausing chip design. The shift comes after a period of limited public activity, product withdrawals, and reported layoffs, as the company focuses on growing enterprise demand for its AI cloud infrastructure. While Krutrim reported significant revenue growth and its first annual profit in FY26, questions remain about its revenue sources and long-term model-building ambitions.
- ▪Krutrim is shifting focus from AI model development to cloud services after a 2025 business overhaul that included pausing chip design and reallocating talent.
- ▪The company reported ₹3 billion in revenue and its first annual net profit in FY26, though it did not disclose how much revenue came from external customers versus Ola group companies.
- ▪Krutrim has over 25 enterprise customers and most of its GPU capacity is committed to external workloads, while rivals like Sarvam continue advancing AI model development.
- ▪The startup pulled its Kruti AI assistant app from app stores in April and has not made major public product announcements in months.
- ▪Krutrim, founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, raised $50 million at a $1 billion valuation in January 2024 but has since undergone multiple rounds of layoffs totaling over 200 employees.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Krutrim, India’s first GenAI unicorn, is shifting from AI model development to cloud services after months of relative quiet on product updates — a move that reflects the tougher economics of building large-scale AI systems. On Tuesday, Krutrim said it was moving toward cloud services, adding that the shift follows a business overhaul in late 2025 that included reallocating capital and talent and pausing chip design efforts. The update comes more than a year after the Bengaluru-based startup released its Krutrim-2 base model. The move follows a period of limited public activity from Krutrim, which has not made any significant product announcements in recent months, with its last post on X dating back to December.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at TechCrunch.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from TechCrunch
