Perplexity AI's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, has detailed the company's ambitious plans for India, which has become its largest market by user base. This surge in adoption is largely attributed to Airtel's bundling of Perplexity Pro. Srinivas envisions expanding beyond Perplexity's core offerings and is considering launching a fund to support Indian startups.
Srinivas has been sharing his insights with the Indian government, including the Prime Minister and chief ministers, on capability building in AI. He advocates for government-owned GPU clusters to provide resources to universities and startups and suggests a sovereign fund to bolster Indian AI companies developing foundational technology. He also expressed his personal commitment to India's AI ambitions, pledging to invest \$1 million and dedicate 5 hours per week to a qualified team focused on making India a leader in AI. Srinivas has also stated he would invest an additional \$10 million if the team surpasses DeepSeek R1 benchmarks.
Srinivas aims to inspire Indian founders to build global companies. He hopes that the next generation will aspire to create the next Google rather than just work at one. Srinivas has also emphasized the importance of building models and not just focusing on building on top of existing models.
Meanwhile, Groww's founders have increased their stakes in the company ahead of its planned ₹7,000 crore IPO in November. Regulatory filings indicate that the combined shareholding of co-founders Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal rose to 29.01% as of June 30, up from 27.93% earlier in the year and 23.89% in the previous financial year.
Prior to the IPO, Groww's co-founders received a one-time incentive of ₹614 crore in FY25, accrued in FY24 under a long-term incentive plan. They also monetized a portion of their holdings through secondary share sales, selling a combined 1.08 crore shares to an affiliate of ICONIQ Capital for ₹104 crore.
The IPO will consist of a fresh issue of shares worth ₹1,060 crore and an offer for sale between ₹5,000-6,000 crore. Despite the payouts, the founders retain a significant stake in the company, with their shares under lock-in after listing.
Groww has experienced substantial growth, with revenue increasing by 50% year-on-year to ₹3,902 crore in FY25. The company reported a profit of ₹1,824 crore, a significant turnaround from the ₹805 crore loss in FY24. In the first quarter of FY26, Groww recorded revenue of ₹904 crore and a profit of ₹378 crore. The platform boasts 18.07 million transacting users, including 14.38 million active clients.
