AI research startup Redrob raises $10 million in funding led by Korea Investment Partners, others

Redrob, an AI research startup, has raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Korea Investment Partners, with participation from KB Investment, Kiwoom Investment, Korea Development Bank Capital, Daekyo Investment, and DS and Partners.

The latest round takes the startup's all-time raise to $14 million, including a seed round of $4 million secured in 2023.

Redrob said it will use the new capital to deepen its ML architecture and work toward a targeted 50 times cost reduction. The startup is developing India focused language models across all 22 constitutionally recognised languages and plans to expand its AI suite for learning, career growth and workplace productivity.

Founded in 2018 by Felix Kim, Redrob operates an AI driven outbound intelligence platform that blends natural language search with data from more than 19 sources. Its PeopleSearch engine gives access to more than 700 million global professional profiles and is used for lead generation, intent filtering and outreach. The company expects the funding to strengthen the reach of its AI Suite, especially through PeopleSearch.

Redrob is preparing several India specific initiatives. It plans to offer free Redrob LLM access to all Indian universities in Q1 2026. It is also in talks with the Ministry of Education for nationwide student access. Alongside this, the startup is building an enterprise suite for Indian SMBs and startups and aims to provide full multi language support by the end of 2026.

Kartikey Handa, Chief Operating Officer and Head of India Operations at Redrob, said, "We want every Indian student to have free access to premium AI tools to pave the way for a freer India. Today, high-end AI models cost so much that they remain far out of reach for most people in India and other emerging markets. Redrob's breakthroughs deliver significant cost reductions through advanced ML techniques, enabling us to offer high-quality performance at a fraction of the cost."

Handa added, "Traditional AI infrastructure perpetuates a divide between developed and emerging economies. We're opening up the AI technology for everybody to a point where a data scientist living in Bangalore will have the same AI facilities as the richest companies in the world."

He also said he believes the next wave of AI will not come from San Francisco or London. "We are constructing the infrastructure that the entire 1.4 billion Indian population will have access to during the AI revolution. We are making sure that no Indian among the 1.4 billion is left isolated when the AI revolution comes. That's not just a business opportunity, but it's more of a responsibility."