Vishal Sikka bets on 'AI surfing' with Hang Ten, raises $32 million to help enterprises ride the wave

Artificial intelligence is set to reshape enterprises at a pace few companies fully appreciate, according to former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, who believes businesses face a defining choice: get overwhelmed by AI or learn to harness it.

That philosophy underpins Hang Ten Systems, Sikka's new enterprise AI startup, which has emerged from stealth with $32 million in seed funding led by Mayfield, alongside a strategic investment from Aramco Ventures and participation from angel investors. The company plans to use the capital to expand its engineering team, strengthen its AI platform and deepen engagements with global enterprises.

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Sikka said the startup's name draws inspiration from surfing, where "hang ten" refers to the manoeuvre of riding a wave so confidently that a surfer walks to the front of the board and hangs all 10 toes over the edge.

"Instead of getting submerged by it or getting destroyed by it, how do you ride it?" Sikka told The Times of India. "We believe bridging this gap is the story of our times."

Hang Ten positions itself as an enterprise AI transformation partner, advising chief executives on AI strategy before helping organisations reimagine functions ranging from product development and finance to manufacturing, human resources and supply chains. Its early customers include German healthcare company Fresenius and Siemens Energy.

Sikka argued that the impact of AI extends far beyond incremental efficiency gains.

"It is not that you get 20% or 30% productivity gain," he said. "You can get thousands of times productivity gain. You can do things that are not possible to do."

He cited one enterprise where a finance workflow that previously took nearly two weeks can now be completed in minutes through AI-powered data harmonisation and analytics. In software engineering, he said, projects that once required hundreds of engineers can increasingly be delivered with a fraction of the effort.

At the same time, Sikka cautioned against treating enterprise AI like consumer-facing AI tools.

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"People make mistakes with AI. People who don't understand what to do with it cannot get the benefits of it," he said.

He noted that enterprises must still address challenges around hallucinations, security, privacy, governance and the rapid evolution of AI models before deploying the technology at scale. Hang Ten aims to bridge that gap through strategic advisory and implementation.

Sikka also believes AI is fundamentally changing the software industry itself.

"The 'how' comes from AI," he said, arguing that while businesses increasingly know what they want to build, AI increasingly knows how to build it.

That shift, he said, is blurring the traditional divide between software products and IT services. Software companies, including established enterprise software vendors and newer SaaS firms, will all be reshaped as AI changes how applications are created, customised and operated.

"What once took years to build can now be developed in days or even hours with the right tools," he said.

While software companies retain strengths such as domain expertise, customer trust and proprietary business data, Sikka said AI is redefining rather than replacing the software-as-a-service model by making applications continuously personalised and adaptive.

Much of Hang Ten's fresh funding will go toward hiring. The company plans to recruit around 250 engineers and technical specialists, while investing in model fine-tuning and expanding its proprietary Hobie AI framework.

"We build where we can stay close to customers and where we find the best talent," Sikka said. "India is not a back office or a GCC for us; it's a place to build real, impactful capability that can innovate and guide others."

He sees India as uniquely positioned to benefit from the AI era, not necessarily by building the next frontier model, but by applying AI at scale across industries.

"While the global narrative often obsesses over who builds the next big frontier model, even bigger economic and societal value lies with those who can build meaningful, reliable applications on top of those models to transform industries," he said.

Despite rapid advances in AI, Sikka maintained that human expertise will remain indispensable.

"People trust people," he said.

While AI may enable one expert to perform the work of an entire team, he said, judgement, experience and trust cannot be replaced.