- Sheryl Sandberg is participating in a $7 million funding round for Bengaluru-based generative AI startup Simplismart, led by Accel.
- Simplismart, founded by BITS Pilani alumni Amritanshu Jain and Devansh Ghatak, offers a high-speed inference engine for deploying generative AI models across cloud providers.
Former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg is making waves in the Indian AI startup ecosystem with a significant investment in Bengaluru-based generative AI startup Simplismart.
According to a report by Entrackr, Sandberg is participating in a $7 million funding round led by Accel, marking her second known investment in an Indian generative AI company.
Simplismart, founded by BITS Pilani alumni Amritanshu Jain and Devansh Ghatak, has developed a high-speed inference engine designed to efficiently deploy generative AI models across various cloud providers. The startup has previously secured backing from Titan Capital, Shastra VC, and First Cheque, and counts companies like Vodex, Dubverse, and Mobavenue among its customers.
Despite reports of Sandberg's involvement, Jain clarified in another report that she is not participating in the current funding round. Before this, Sandberg’s only known involvement with the Indian startup ecosystem was as a client of Iconiq Capital, a U.S.-based investment management firm that has backed companies like Flipkart.
Sandberg’s investment history in India also includes backing another generative AI startup, Ema, which focuses on automating complex workflows to enhance productivity.
The rise of Indian AI startups has attracted significant attention from Silicon Valley investors. In addition to Simplismart, Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI recently secured $41 million in a funding round led by major firms like Lightspeed Venture Partners and Khosla Ventures.
This comes on the heels of a $52 million funding round by Fireworks AI, another generative AI startup in Sandberg’s portfolio, which was led by Sequoia Capital and included participation from NVIDIA, AMD, and MongoDB Ventures.
Edited by Harshajit Sarmah
