Conversational AI Architect "Conversational AI was still a nascent field when we started, and convincing businesses to adopt AI-driven solutions was challenging. Many were sceptical about the reliability and effectiveness of AI assistants," says Ankush Sabharwal, founder and CEO, CoRover

The Indian generative AI ecosystem is still in its nascence and has a long way to go. Leading the race– among a few– is Ankush Sabharwal and his human-centric conversational AI platform for enterprises, CoRover. "Our main inspiration was to revolutionize the human experience through Artificial Intelligence (AI). To harness the power of AI for the betterment of society, fostering a world where technology seamlessly integrates into daily life, amplifying happiness, and simplifying complexities for all," said Ankush Sabharwal, founder and CEO, CoRover.

Founded in 2016, the start-up recently raised Series A funding and competes with Bhavish Aggarwal's Krutrim AI and Sarvam AI. Presently, CoRover boasts of having 1.3 billion users. Known for BharatGPT, its own indigenous LLM, one of the start-up's biggest challenges initially was building trust in Conversational AI. "Conversational AI was still a nascent field when we started, and convincing businesses to adopt AI-driven solutions was challenging. Many were sceptical about the reliability and effectiveness of AI assistants," he said.

To address the issue, CoRover prioritized implementing pilot projects that showcased concrete outcomes, including enhanced user engagement, greater efficiency in customer support, and significant cost savings. "Real-world success stories helped build trust and confidence in our platform," he added. Its solutions are deployed by IRCTC, NPCI, SEBI, and Google to name a few.

The start-up's three USPs are a human-centric Conversational AI platform with 10X faster implementation, enterprise-grade virtual assistants, and conversational (Video—voice) commerce. Its suite of Conversational AI products includes CoroBuilder, CoroAssist, CoroGrievance, CoroPayments, CoroNotifier, CoroOnboarding, CoroVoiceCommerce, CoroVideoCommerce, CoroForms, CoroAnalytics, CoroTranslate, and more. Having been profitable for the last four years, CoRover anchors on four pillars: Scientific Research, Technological Advancement, Growth Strategy, and Human-Centric Design.

In August 2024, CoRover joined the NVIDIA Inception program to accelerate BharatGPT. "Our mission is to drive revenue acceleration, optimize operational efficiency, and elevate customer experience, ultimately redefining the future of AI-powered innovation and entrepreneurship," Sabharwal concluded.