Google: Google may invest $4 million in BharatGPT-maker Corover

The Indian AI startup space is expected to experience a significant growth. Tech giant Google is reportedly planning to invest in domestic conversational AI startup CoRover.ai. The company is among the few Indian startups that is working on an indigenous large language model (LLM), called BharatGPT. The Indian generative AI model will support more than a dozen Indian languages.It is important to note that Google has already made a non-equity funding of $500,000 inCorover after signing an agreement with the startup in March.
How Google will help the company
According to a report by the Economic Times, the tech major is in discussions to invest $4 million in equity. This investment is likely to happen after the official launch of BharatGPT in the coming weeks. The report also noted that the startup is expected to the rest of the funding in December.
Google will offer credits to Corover to access its cloud computing service for being a ‘strategic partner’. The report also reveals that the cash infusion will go into scaling up BharatGPT in the coming weeks.

However, both companies are yet to confirm the investment. Corover was founded in 2016 and is currently backed by multiple funders. It includes CanBank Venture Capital Fund, Lead Angels, Cognify, Karekeba Ventures and IIIT-Delhi.
Services offered by Corover
Corover offers text, audio and video chatbot in Indian and foreign languages. This chatbot can be integrated across platforms like WhatsApp, Signal, Zoom and more. The company has clients across banking, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, travel and ecommerce domains.
According to the company’s website, the company also has multiple customers that includes IRCTC, NPCI, ICICI Prudential, ITC, Max Life Insurance, Bosch and others. As per Tracxn data, the startup had a value of $8.5 million as of December 2022.
Global tech majors focusing on Indian AI startups
Experts claim that global tech companies are focusing on several homegrown startups working with Indian languages. These firms are planning to expand their capabilities in the AI domain, especially in diverse Indian vernacular languages.
In November 2022, US software major Adobe acquired Lightspeed-backed Rephrase.ai. The acquisation will help the company to integrate the Indian firm’s tech stack and Generative AI video capabilities with its in-house video-editing platform Creative Cloud. This was Adobe’s first-ever deal in the Gen AI and video-tooling space.