Tech wizards based in Bengaluru, Edgehax, have recently won 1.39 crore (approximately 167,000 USD to our overseas colleagues) in seed funding courtesy of Inflection Point Ventures (IPV). So, is that a great deal of corporate mumbo jumbo now? Never fear! We are here to dissect what this will do to your future, your devices, and how your Roomba may shortly begin existential crises regarding its role.
Bengaluru-based AI hardware startup Edgehax develops custom hardware platforms known as Edge AI hardware platforms. They are basically single-board computers that are meant to provide an integration of computer, networking, and storage features. This enables developers and companies to create and design hardware products that have the capability of processing data and making real-time decisions locally, at the edge of a network, without necessarily being connected to a centralized cloud server all the time.
It strives to become a leading provider of these platforms, which they have called India’s answer to Raspberry Pi, to cement the status of India in the global electronics and AI hardware ecosystem.
Meet the Masterminds
Prabhu Stavarmath, Co-Founder and CEO: This guy is a 15+ years old serial entrepreneur. He has founded two companies, earned half a million dollars by starting them up, and served one hundred thousand clients. Prabhu is practically a technological superhero who likes product management, building businesses, sales, and marketing. In addition, he is an SEO genius and a guru in digital marketing. Talk about a triple threat!
He has also been working on Refillbot (overseen independently) and Affiliatics (funded and independent). Prabhu is also conquering mountains (literally) through long-distance cycling, hiking, and trekking when he is not busy making the world smarter. He has even participated in two walkathons, which took around 12 hours each. My dude is built different.
Savitri Patil, COO and Co-founder: Savitri is the force behind the operations. At WaterBot Online Solutions Pvt Ltd, she served as the Director and managed all activities, including operations and staff management up to logistics (9 years). Before that, Savitri was a System Analyst in the Directorate of Municipal Administration, where she worked with several government departments in Karnataka. Maybe she has the experience of turning the gears in a startup or in a government agency. It is she who ensures that nothing goes wrong behind the scenes and that Edgehax runs like a well-oiled (AI-powered) machine.
Some very cool stuff is being driven by these titans:
- IoT Gateways: Making factories so intelligent that they are almost earning a degree in efficiency.
- Humanoid Robotics: Your robot butler of tomorrow has been upgraded. Let’s hope they don’t unionize.
- Self-driving Cars and Drones: Clever, so smart, these vehicles and drones can even begin to evaluate your parking capabilities.
- Defense Systems: Having things locked up, no one wants a hitch in the matrix, and definitely not national security.
- NavIC-based Tracking Solutions: In essence, super-precise GPS everywhere. No more “are we there yet?” This is because your stuff knows where it is.
Your Living Room (Probably) → University Labs.
Edgehax is not only creating the future, but they are training it. They have also seeded developer kits into the hands of more than 100,000 students and faculty at 30 universities and IITs. A whole generation of future geniuses in technology, that is! It is as if they had handed them Lego, only to see them create real AI-controlled spaceships.
And they are not limiting themselves there. In India, where the tech scene is dynamic, Edgehax has more than 150 partners, ranging in size between plucky startups and enormous enterprises.
Talk about the numbers, everybody loves a flex!
They have already delivered 5000-plus edge gateway boards. It can do that to create an army of intelligent devices.
They are currently planning to deploy 10,000 compute modules to consumer appliances by the end of 2025. Your refrigerator may simply begin to suggest dinner recipes according to how you feel. It will not, we do not say it will.
It is not just about making things smart; it is about making smart things available.
Inflection Point Ventures has led a seed financing round of ₹1.39 crore ($163,000) in Edgehax. The funding will enable the start-up, which designs integrated AI hardware platforms, to increase production, accelerate product development, and venture into other global markets such as the US and Europe.
After the most recent round of funding, Edgehax is now worth ₹25.4 crore ($3 million).
The Grand Vision: Making Physical Intelligence, Like, A Thing
The fundamental mission statement of Edgehax is Edge AI Hardware Xeleration of Physical Intelligence. With non-corporate spea, they would like to create the ultimate hardware playground, where anyone can create amazing, smart products directly out of India and be able to dominate the world market. Imagine them as the facilitators of the new generation of smart devices.
They think the future is completely independent, and to be quite honest, who can disagree with that one? We are all a bit fed up with doing things ourselves, aren’t we? The new trends in cars, smart homes, and everything are digitization and physical intelligence. And at the core of all this wit are small, minutely designed compute modules. These are no ordinary circuit boards, but they are made to be accurate, plug-and-play, and bulletproof.
