Former Intel and AMD executives founded Bengaluru-based Agrani Labs, an AI semiconductor business, raised $8 million in a seed round led by Peak XV Partners alongside angel investors.

Key Highlights

• Agrani Labs raises $8 million to accelerate development of next-generation AI semiconductor and chip design capabilities.
• Peak XV-led funding strengthens India’s deeptech ecosystem and supports domestic innovation in AI hardware manufacturing.

As Agrani Labs strives to offer internationally competitive AI compute solutions from India, the funds will be utilized to scale engineering efforts and progress product development.

Agrani Labs, founded by Dheemanth Nagaraj, Ashok Jagannathan, Srikanth Nimmagadda, and Rajesh Vivekanandham, is developing a high-performance AI GPU intended for data centers. The business is joining a market that is expanding quickly due to the growing need for AI compute infrastructure, but it is still dominated by a small number of international companies.

A full-stack AI compute platform that includes both software and hardware is being developed by Agrani Labs. The company is creating its own software stack, which includes compilers, libraries, system software, and AI frameworks, in addition to designing GPUs. 

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Vinod Dham, dubbed the "Father of the Pentium," has also joined Agrani Labs as a founding advisor. Dham is tightly linked to India's semiconductor ecosystem and formerly played a significant part in Intel's CPU roadmap.

The startup has already developed early iterations of its hardware and software stack and made strides in architecture and product specification. To speed up development, Agrani Labs also collaborates with academic institutions, semiconductor partners, government research organizations, and software ecosystems.