Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka has emerged from stealth with his new enterprise AI venture, Hang Ten Systems, having secured $32 million in a seed funding round.
The financing round was led by Mayfield, alongside a strategic investment from Aramco Ventures and participation from various angel investors.
Surfing the AI Wave
Drawing inspiration from surfing—where “hang ten” refers to riding a wave so skillfully that a surfer walks to the front of the board and hangs all ten toes over the edge—Sikka’s startup is built around the philosophy of helping enterprises master artificial intelligence rather than getting overwhelmed or disrupted by it.
-
Core Mission: Hang Ten acts as an enterprise AI transformation partner, advising chief executives on AI strategy and assisting organizations in redesigning core business functions—including product development, finance, HR, supply chains, and software engineering.
-
Early Traction: The startup has already secured major enterprise clients, such as German healthcare firm Fresenius and Siemens Energy.
Focus on Massive Productivity & Practical Implementation
Sikka argues that generative AI offers far more than incremental 20% to 30% efficiency boosts, pointing to workflows that can shrink from weeks to minutes and engineering projects delivered with a fraction of the traditional manpower.
However, Hang Ten emphasizes safe, enterprise-grade deployment over consumer-style applications, focusing heavily on:
-
Resolving data hallucinations and security vulnerabilities.
-
Ensuring privacy, governance, and model reliability.
-
Utilizing its proprietary Hobie AI framework for model fine-tuning and data harmonization.
Use of Funds & Expansion Plans
The newly raised capital will be deployed primarily toward:
-
Hiring Engineering Talent: Expanding the technical team by recruiting approximately 250 engineers and specialists, with a strong focus on building core capabilities out of India.
-
Platform Enhancement: Scaling up platform capabilities and deepening global enterprise deployments.
