India’s Aurionpro acquires AI firm Arya.ai in $16.5m deal

(From left) Arya.ai founders Deekshith Marla and Vinay Kumar Sankarapu, and Aurionpro CEO Ashish Rai / Photo credit: Aurionpro

Indian software firm Aurionpro is set to buy Mumbai-based Arya.ai, a platform-as-a-service startup focusing on banking and insurance, for US$16.5 million. The deal involves a 67% share purchase through an all-cash transaction, Aurionpro said in a statement.

The deal comes amid a nationwide push for AI in India, which includes a plan for the government to help local startups and other stakeholders procure chips from Nvidia.

One such startup is Arya.ai. Founded in 2013, the company offers plug-and-use AI APIs, among other things, for clients like Nvidia, Reliance General Insurance, and Forbes.

It last raised funding in 2015 – a US$750,000 pre-series A round from Your Next Angel Fund and Venture Nursery.

According to Arya.ai CEO Vinay Kumar, the company has been growing 3x year on year “in the last couple of years” and has been profitable.

The acquisition will let Aurionpro – which focuses on digital transformation for clients in the banking, mobility, and government sectors – expand its fintech abilities. The company will also benefit from Arya.ai’s AI capabilities, with plans to merge the latter’s AI cloud platform with its own.

“To make [AI] acceptable in a highly regulated industry like banking or insurance, it needs to be stable, reliable, explainable, auditable, compliant, and safe to use,” said Kumar. “Together with Aurionpro, we are going to build a new generation of enterprise AI software for banks and insurers that truly embed AI.”

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