Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas-backed AI startup Astra shuts down; founder says, 'we found ourselves...'

Astra, a Bengaluru-based AI startup that billed itself as the “Chief of Staff for every Account Executive,” has ceased operations nearly two years after its inception, marking another retreat in the crowded and rapidly evolving space of AI-powered sales tools.

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The startup's cofounder and CEO, Supreet Hegde, announced the closure in a LinkedIn post earlier this week, attributing the decision to internal differences between the founding team.

“Despite our best efforts, as co-founders, we found ourselves at different crossroads regarding the pace of growth. It is a challenging decision, but we have chosen to part ways and bring this chapter to a close,” Hegde wrote, referring to IIT Madras alumnus and co-founder Ranjan Rajagopalan.

Founded in 2023, Astra aimed to automate as much as 80% of an account executive’s workload using a platform that integrated with enterprise systems like Salesforce, Google Drive, Slack, and contract lifecycle management tools. The promise was to enhance salesforce productivity through AI-driven workflows. Yet, the startup struggled to scale beyond its beta phase, onboarding only two enterprise clients before winding down.

While internal friction played a role, Astra also faced resistance in winning client trust, especially among large enterprises wary of sharing sensitive data with a nascent platform. The startup's core offering required deep integrations into corporate data stacks, a process that often proved too intrusive or slow-moving for prospective clients.

“Working with larger companies meant navigating lengthy sales cycles,” Hegde noted, adding that buyers were often uncertain “of whom to trust or how to evaluate these AI agents.” The proliferation of similar agentic tools only compounded that hesitation, as differentiation across startups remained unclear in a crowded field.

Earlier this year, Astra raised capital from Aravind Srinivas, another IIT Madras graduate and co-founder of AI startup Perplexity AI, who Hegde had previously praised as “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time.”

The investment, however, did not translate into sustainable traction. Despite positioning itself as a category-defining product with no direct competitors, Astra never formally launched and remained confined to a limited pilot rollout. Hegde’s future plans remain undisclosed. Rajagopalan, the former Google employee, is reportedly working on a new startup, still in stealth mode.