Responsible AI dev platform Inspeq AI raises Rs 9.1Cr in funding led by Sure Valley Ventures, Delta Partners

Responsible AI development platform provider Inspeq AI recently announced that it has raised $1.1 million in a pre-Series-A funding round.

Specialist AI investment firm Sure Valley Ventures led the funding round with participation from Delta Partners.

Other investors in the round include Plug and Play, and several marquee angel investors, including Gaurav Singh Kushwaha (Founder and CEO of BlueStone), Prateek Dixit (Founder of Pocket FM), Rick Kelly (Former MD of Meta Ireland), Cyril Treacy (Former VP of Salesforce), and other tech executives. 

Who are the founders?

Inspeq AI was founded in 2023 in Dublin, Ireland, by senior tech leaders Apoorva Kumar (formerly at Microsoft, SAP, Amazon, and Informatica) and Ramanujam Macharla Vijayakumar (formerly at LinkedIn).

The startup has built an enterprise-ready LLM Ops platform to help developers evaluate and improve their enterprise AI applications.

The startup's platform claims to accelerate Gen AI app development up to 4X and cut development costs by up to 70%. 

What is the purpose of fundraising?

Inspeq AI said it plans to use this investment to expand its product development team and extend its marketing and sales operations in India, Ireland, and the UK. 

“This investment will greatly accelerate Inspeq AI’s growth trajectory as we work towards advancing AI safety and performance on a global scale,” says Apoorva Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of Inspeq AI. “Winning the backing of such marquee investors also moves us closer to realising Inspeq AI’s mission to become the global leader in safe and reliable AI.” 

Addressing the spectrum of AI development and production phases

Inspeq AI’s comprehensive AI Ops platform addresses the entire spectrum of AI development and production phases. Powered by cutting-edge research and advanced AI/ML models, the platform optimizes Gen AI deployment throughout all phases, from testing and evaluation to monitoring and performance enhancement. 

It also significantly reduces security vulnerabilities and hallucination issues by up to 80%. 

Recent cases of production-grade Gen AI applications going wrong have highlighted the challenges businesses face in scaling Gen AI.

“By using Inspeq AI as an ops layer, businesses can overcome these bottlenecks, ensuring trust, safety, and ethical standards. We are thrilled to be working with significant global enterprise companies, like HCL, helping them develop production-grade Gen AI applications that immensely benefit their customers,” Apoorva added. 

Leadership comments

Ramanujam Macharla Vijayakumar, Co-Founder and CTO of Inspeq AI, said, “We have built an enterprise-grade platform that integrates seamlessly with existing data tools, prioritizing data security with cutting-edge research, and are helping companies reduce their manual verification tasks, achieving accurate output at scale. As AI regulations grow globally, Inspeq is well-positioned to lead AI compliance for DevOps practices.” 

Managing Partner of SVV, Barry Downes said,  “After our first meeting with Apoorva and Ramanujam , we knew right away that they were the sort of founders we wanted to back. Their knowledge of the AI space was extremely impressive, as was their commitment to ensuring that companies develop and use AI in a positive and constructive way. We look forward to working alongside our co-investors to support Inspeq on their exciting growth journey for many years ahead.”