For decades, IT services companies have made billions of dollars by allowing businesses to outsource technical tasks such as customization, integration and maintenance of business software. Vishal Sikka, former CEO of Infosys, one of the largest such companies in India, is now betting that AI can do much of this work.
His new startup, Hang ten systemsraised a $32 million seed round led by Mayfield, it said Wednesdaywith strategic investment from Aramco Ventures and participation from angel investors. The startup, whose board includes Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, said it helps businesses continuously build, modify and operate software using AI-driven development and automation.
Hang Ten is entering a market where IT services companies, including Infosys, are working to adapt to AI through partnerships with companies like Anthropic And OpenAI.
The startup’s launch comes amid a growing debate over whether AI will expand the industry’s addressable market or fundamentally change the way enterprise software is built, maintained and delivered.
Clearly, some companies are eager to try the idea of AI services, especially from someone as experienced as Sikka, who spent 12 years building enterprise software at SAP and then as a board member at Oracle. Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha told TechCrunch that the company “just started a month ago” and already has customers.
The startup said it is working with clients including Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius on delivering native AI projects. In a separate blog post In announcing the venture, Sikka, 59, said Hang Ten was already helping big companies “hook ten people on the biggest wave of our lives.”
Based in the Bay Area, Hang Ten told TechCrunch it is hiring in delivery, engineering, sales and management and plans to expand to multiple locations around the world to meet enterprise demand.
The startup’s first team includes executives who have worked with Sikka for years at SAP, Infosys and his previous enterprise AI startup, VianAIaccording to their LinkedIn profiles. Among them are co-founders Navin Budhiraja, the startup’s CTO; Sanjay Rajagopalan, its design director; and Tao Liu, its senior vice president of forward-deployed engineering.
After leaving his post as chief executive of Infosys in 2017, Sikka founded VianAI, which emerged from stealth in 2019 with $50 million in seed funding And later $140 million was raised in a 2021 round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Chaddha told TechCrunch that Hang Ten was separate from VianAI, describing Sikka’s earlier venture as focused on a different market. VianAI has focused on enterprise AI applications and analytics tools designed to help businesses use artificial intelligence in decision-making. Hang Ten, on the other hand, describes itself as an enterprise AI services company built around agent code generation, reusable AI skills, and domain expertise.
Mayfield backed Hang Ten because of Sikka’s professional experience, as well as his belief that the startup’s native AI model can scale differently from traditional service companies.
“Traditional services scale linearly based on headcount,” Mayfield said. “Hang Ten is designed to increase its influence with each project. »
Hang Ten emerges as investors debate how AI will affect the IT services sector’s economics. Analysts at Jefferies argued Earlier this year, IT services could be among the first sectors to face significant AI disruption. However, Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani this week said AI could expand the potential market for the industry.
Infosys itself has sought to position AI as an opportunity rather than a threat, telling investors this month that “AI-driven services” could represent a market of 300 to 400 billion dollars by 2030. The debate comes as investors reassess the prospects of traditional IT services companies, with Infosys shares down more than 35% this year.
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Jagmeet covers startups, technology policy updates and all other major technology developments in India for TechCrunch. He previously worked as a senior correspondent at NDTV.
You can contact or check Jagmeet’s outreach by sending an email mail@journalistjagmeet.com.
