Get Z keeps astonishing us now and then with remarkable advancements in varied fields. Take the case of budding 16-year-old Indian techie Pranjali Awasthi who is all set to revolutionise the world of technology with her AI startup Delv.AI. Launched in January 2022, the company has already secured significant funding and operates with a committed team of 10 professionals. Interestingly, her company has raised 3.7 crore in funding and is currently valued at 100 crore. Here’s a look at her journey.
Pranjali initiated the funding for her brainchild during the Miami Hack Week in 2021, where she met Lucy Guo and Dave Fontenot, partners at a company Backend Capital. The 16-year-old revealed the duo accepted her into their 12-week cohort “in exchange for a small piece of my future company.” Her parents advised her to grab opportunity since they believed the network alone would be worth it. Pranjali took a period of absence from high school.
She founded the company in January 2022 and effectively secured around $450,000 (equivalent to Rs 3.7 crore) in funding.
Pranjali Awasthi’s early fascination with technology was sparked by her father, an engineer who was enthusiastic about promoting computer science education in schools. His encouragement motivated her to begin her coding journey at the young age of seven, laying the foundation for her remarkable path. At the age of 11, when her family moved to Florida, new opportunities emerged, providing her with access to computer science courses and competitive math programs.
At the age of 13, she initiated her internship in the research laboratories of Florida International University, where she actively participated in machine learning projects while also attending school. During the COVID pandemic, she committed approximately 20 hours per week to her internship, as her school had shifted to virtual learning. This internship paved the way for her entrepreneurial journey, as her responsibilities encompassed tasks such as researching, extracting data, and creating literature reviews. It was the same year when OpenAI released the ChatGPT-3 beta version that she used to extract and summarise the research data.
Making the utmost use of the latest technological advancements Pranjali climbed the ladder of her goals.
Then in 2021, she gained admission to the accelerator program at the Miami Hack Week in exchange for a minor equity stake in her future company. Her parents demonstrated their support by permitting her to take a break from high school for a period.
The accelerator program served as the catalyst, assisting her in drawing investments from notable figures, including On Deck and Village Global. She articulated that Delv.AI’s main aim is to facilitate researchers in retrieving targeted information from the vast realm of online content.
It is heartening and fascinating to see how such a young mind can think about the futuristic needs of people in terms of the correct and valuable information.
Awasthi has a vision of resuming her higher education in the future to gain business skills that will enhance her entrepreneurial journey. Leading a compact yet highly dynamic team, she supervises multiple aspects of Delv.AI, ranging from coding to operations and customer service.
Being a too young founder presents a distinct array of challenges and prospects. Although some might underestimate her because of her age, Awasthi’s lucid vision and effective communication enable her to surmount these hurdles. She stays dedicated to the continually changing AI landscape and intends to enhance Delv.AI through user input while also pursuing further funding to remain competitive in this swiftly expanding market.
With young minds like her’s the future is bright and limitless to explore.
