Sharechat Co-foundersSecure $3 Million in Funding for Robotics Startup

Sharechat co-founders Farid Ahsan and Bhanu Singh have successfully secured $3 million in seed funding for their robotics startup, General Autonomy. The investment comes from prominent venture capital firms India Quotient, Elevation Capital, and several notable angel investors. This development follows their departure from executive roles at the social media unicorn Sharechat about a year ago.

General Autonomy aims to revolutionize factory operations by leveraging artificial intelligence to build automated machines. Farid Ahsan expressed the company's mission, emphasizing the role of automation in unraveling the complexities of factory processes and ensuring safer, more efficient, and standardized production. The overarching vision is to make mass manufacturing agile and distributed, akin to software development practices. Despite being based in Bengaluru, General Autonomy operates on a global scale.

Ahsan extended an invitation to individuals passionate about robotics to join their journey and collaborate in building AI-driven machines designed to automate challenging aspects of labor workflows within factories.

This funding round is notable amid challenges faced by internet startups in securing funds for business models with high cash burn, exacerbated by rising interest rates. The broader startup ecosystem in India has experienced a decline in deal momentum, with equity raised totaling $625 million in October, reflecting a nearly 40 percent year-on-year decrease, according to data from Venture Intelligence.

Investor interest in deeptech startups, particularly those focused on artificial intelligence and advanced semiconductor chips, remains robust. The government's recognition of manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, and national security as priority sectors in a national framework for robotics underscores the potential for significant socio-economic impact through the adoption of robotics in these areas