HCLTech Leads $234 Million Funding Round for Sarvam AI

Sarvam AI, a Bengaluru-based sovereign AI startup, reached unicorn status on June 15, 2026, after raising $234 million in the first close of a $300 million Series B round. The funding values the company at $1.5 billion and was led by a $150 million strategic investment from HCLTech for an approximately 10.5% minority stake. Other participants include Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Peak XV Partners.

The investment follows a U.S. government order for Anthropic to suspend access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for foreign nationals, intensifying the push for homegrown AI sovereignty in India. Sarvam AI intends to use the capital to develop next-generation frontier models focusing on agentic AI, coding, and cybersecurity, while expanding its compute infrastructure. The company has already deployed models trained in 22 Indian languages and a vision model that digitized over 35 million pages of records.

HCLTech aims to combine Sarvam's research with its own engineering workforce to create a full-stack AI platform for governments and regulated industries across India, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. Following the announcement, HCLTech shares rose 3.42% on the BSE. Sarvam currently provides AI services for the Indian Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and various banking and insurance enterprises.