Former Infosys CEO Sikka’s AI startup bags $50 mn

Infosys’ former chief executive Vishal Sikka has raised $50 million for its California-based artificial intelligence startup Vian Systems, according to regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

While Vishal Sikka has been reportedly working on the startup for more than a year, there has been a little update about the precise offering by Vian Systems. Currently, the website only talks about “building a world full of life and intelligence.”

Along with the undisclosed equity offered for the fundraising, it also “includes the contribution of certain intellectual property assets,” said the filing has seen by Financial Express Online.

The filing added that two investors already have invested in the offering to Vian Systems that have revenues in the range of $1-$1 million.

Also, Vishal Sikka has received no compensation for his role in the offering beyond his usual and customary salary as an officer of the corporation, the filing said with respect to the amount of the gross proceeds of the offering that has been or is proposed to be used for payments to executive officers, directors, or promoters.

Vishal Sikka is also on-board Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence as part of its advisory council that also has LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Alphabet’s technical advisor Eric Schmidt, etc.

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Vishal Sikka had quit Infosys in August 2017 following a clash with the company’s other top leaders citing “the distractions, the very public noise around us” in his personal blog post.

The global AI market was valued at $16.06 billion in 2017 and is likely to hit $190.61 billion marks by 2025 growing at a CAGR of 36.62 percent, as per a report by Markets and Markets.

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