In a remarkable feat, Pranjali Awasthi, a sixteen-year-old Indian tech prodigy, has successfully secured funding of approximately ₹3.7 crores for her artificial intelligence (AI) startup, Delv.AI, said a report by Indiatoday.in.
According to the reports, Pranjali, inspired by her engineer father's advocacy for computer science education, delved into coding at the age of seven. Her family's move to Florida at age 11 further fuelled her passion, providing access to advanced computer science classes and competitive math programs.
Pranjali's entrepreneurial journey took a significant turn during her internship at Florida International University research labs at the age of 13. The internship, coupled with her engagement in virtual high school during the pandemic, led to the inception of Delv.AI. Motivated by OpenAI's ChatGPT-3 beta release, Pranjali envisioned streamlining research data extraction and summarization using AI.
Joining an AI startup accelerator in Miami, led by Lucy Guo and Dave Fontenot of Backend Capital, marked a pivotal moment for Pranjali. Despite temporarily leaving high school, she successfully launched Delv.AI's beta on Product Hunt, achieving exceptional success.
The total funding raised by Delv.AI reached $450,000, with a current valuation standing at approximately $12 million. Pranjali's commitment to her entrepreneurial venture led her to postpone higher education temporarily, prioritizing her responsibilities and passion for Delv.AI. She envisions revisiting academia in the future to acquire business skills beneficial to her journey.