The former Infosys boss has a new startup that wants to challenge the world of IT services

For decades, IT services companies have made billions of dollars by allowing companies to outsource technology tasks such as customizing, integrating, and maintaining enterprise software. Vishal Sikka, the former CEO of Infosys, one of India’s largest companies, is now betting that artificial intelligence can do much of that work instead.

his new beginning, Hang ten systemsraised a $32 million financing round led by Mayfield, He said WednesdayWith a strategic investment from Aramco Ventures and the participation of angel investors. The startup, whose board includes Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, said it continuously helps companies build, modify and operate software using AI-based development and automation.

Hang Ten enters a market where IT services companies, including Infosys, are racing to adapt to AI through partnerships with companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI.

The startup’s launch comes amid a growing debate over whether AI will expand the addressable market in industry or fundamentally change how enterprise software is created, maintained and delivered.

Some organizations are clearly keen to try out the idea of ​​AI services, especially from someone with experience like Sika, who spent 12 years building enterprise software at SAP and later as a board member at Oracle. Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha told TechCrunch that the company “just launched a month ago” and already has clients.

The startup said it is working with customers including Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius on the delivery of the original AI project. In separate Blog post Announcing the project, Sika, 59, said Hang Ten was already helping large companies “hang ten on the biggest wave of our lives”.

Hang Ten, which is headquartered in the Bay Area, told TechCrunch that it is hiring in delivery, engineering, sales and leadership and plans to expand across multiple locations globally to meet enterprise demand.

The startup’s first crew includes executives who have worked with Sikka for years across SAP, Infosys and his previous AI startup, Vianaiaccording to their LinkedIn profiles. Their co-founders include Navin Budhiraja, the startup’s CTO, Sanjay Rajagopalan, chief design officer, and Tao Liu, senior vice president of forward-deployed engineering.

After stepping down as CEO of Infosys in 2017, Sikka founded VianAI, which emerged from obscurity in 2019 with $50 million in seed funding and It later raised $140 million In a 2021 round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Chaddha told TechCrunch that Hang Ten is different from VianAI, describing Sikka’s previous project as focusing on a different market. VianAI focused on enterprise AI applications and analytics tools designed to help companies use AI in decision making. In contrast, Hang Ten describes itself as an enterprise AI services company built on code generation, reusable AI skills, and domain expertise.

Mayfield backed Hang Ten because of Sikka’s professional experience, as well as its belief that the startup’s native AI model could scale differently than traditional service companies.

“Traditional services scale linearly with headcount,” Mayfield said. “Hang Ten was created so that its influence grows with each project.”

Hang Ten appears as investors discuss how AI will impact the economics of the IT services industry. Analysts at Jefferies Argue Earlier this year, IT services may have been among the first sectors to face major AI disruption. But Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani this week He said AI can expand the addressable market in industry.

Infosys itself has sought to view AI as an opportunity rather than a threat, telling investors this month that “AI-first services” could be an opportunity. It represents a market worth $300 billion to $400 billion By 2030. The debate comes as investors reevaluate the outlook for traditional IT services companies, with Infosys shares down more than 35% this year.