Rs 100 Cr Pipeline: BharatGPT-creator CoRover.ai Increases Focus On Revenue, Hiring

Bengaluru-based conversational AI company CoRover.ai, known for creating BharatGPT LLM, has projects worth over Rs 100 crore lined up for the next 12 months, fueled by high demand. The company is set to expand its team aggressively to support its growth and increasing market presence.

Surging Demand And Market Potential

Founded in 2016, CoRover.ai has reported receiving 900 inbound leads for the current fiscal, indicating a strong market interest in its conversational AI solutions. 

Speaking with BW Businessworld, CoRover.ai Founder and CEO Ankush Sabharwal underlined the overwhelming demand. “The current target is very less because we were thinking we will still continue focusing on the technology a bit more. But we already have so much demand, about 900 inbound leads and the next 12 months pipeline is up at around Rs 100 crore, which is very visible to us,” he said.

The company’s solutions, including Large Language Model (LLM) BharatGPT, have reached a massive user base, with their virtual assistants being accessed by 1.3 billion users through clients like IRCTC, LIC and market regulator Sebi. 

“We’ve reached virtually every Indian digital user through our virtual assistants, whether it’s via platforms like IRCTC, LIC, or others such as Chandigarh Smart City. Our presence has permeated the digital landscape of India,” Sabharwal added.

CoRover’s solutions extend beyond the public sector, with enterprises including Accenture, Bosch, Microsoft, Amazon and numerous others leveraging their services. While the public sector constitutes its largest user base, CoRover’s impact spans across diverse industries.

Global Partnerships And Growth

CoRover.ai’s partnership with global tech giants, including Google and Microsoft, has significantly augmented its market penetration in India and beyond. The company recently showcased its BharatGPT platform at Google Cloud Next ’24 in Las Vegas, where it signed a global partnership agreement with Google. This partnership is expected to enhance CoRover.ai’s global reach and sales capabilities.

“We recently signed up with Google. In fact, last month, we were at Google Cloud Next ’24 in Las Vegas. We presented the BharatGPT platform to the global audience, and we signed up with Google. We have multiple agreements with Google, but we signed a partnership agreement where Google would be selling our solution globally,” shared Sabharwal.

Initially bootstrapped, CoRover.ai has successfully raised between USD 1-2 million and is in the process of closing another funding round. The company’s team of 50 is set to grow, with aggressive hiring plans to support its expanding operations and innovation efforts. 

“We have 50 people in our team and are aggressively hiring this year,” Sabharwal confirmed, stressing the company’s focus to scaling up its workforce to meet growing demand.

Focus on Practical Solutions And Future IPO

Speaking on the challenges faced by AI companies in raising funds in India, Sabharwal stressed the focus of investors looking to invest in viable businesses with tangible solutions. “Investment will come for a business that is viable and has solutions, whether they use AI or not.”

He added CoRover.ai prides itself on a lean-and-mean approach and focuses on creating business-viable solutions that leverage AI to address real-world problems, which has helped it raise funding. 

When asked about the future and the possibility of an Initial Public Offering (IPO), Sabharwal shared that the company will first look to build a predictable revenue stream and then set the stage for a potential IPO in the coming years. “We currently have 900 inbound leads and are tracking leads from approximately 95 clients for the next 12 months, totaling over Rs 100 crore. This represents just our inbound potential,” he noted. 

“We see vast opportunities, with some projects exceeding Rs 100 crore or even 5x that amount. While we have revenue targets for this year, we believe they represent only a fraction of our true potential. Our focus in the coming years will be on maximising revenue and then consider the possibility of going public, which may take around two years,” he added.

Rohit Chintapali

BW Reporters The author is Regional Editor (Technology & South) at BW Businessworld.