Voice AI startup Navana ai raises Rs 40 crore from Ronnie Screwvala, others

Voice AI startup Navana ai has raised Rs 40 crore in a funding round led by entrepreneur and investor Ronnie Screwvala.

Existing and new investors, including Antler India; Neysa founder and CEO Sharad Sanghi; Avaana Capital's Sandeep Singhal; and Aureolis Ventures founding partner Paula Mariwala, also participated in the round.

The Mumbai-based startup will use the fresh capital to expand its deployments in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, invest in speech models for Indian languages and dialects, and strengthen its AI contact centre and automated quality evaluation products.


Founded by brothers Raoul Nanavati and Jai Nanavati, Navana ai builds voice AI models for enterprises, with a focus on regulated sectors that require on-premise deployments for data privacy and compliance.

The company claims that its speech models support 12 Indian languages and 45 dialects.

Navana ai said it has processed more than 100 million voice AI minutes and counts Bajaj Finserv, Protean, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Jana Small Finance Bank and Grihum Housing Finance among its customers. The startup’s products are used across customer service, sales, collections and compliance workflows.

The startup has collaborated with various institutions, including IISc Bengaluru, IIT Madras, Microsoft Research, as well as the Gates Foundation on Indic speech AI research.

"Voice AI will be a key layer of India's digital infrastructure, particularly for enterprises operating in regulated sectors where data residency and compliance are critical," cofounder and chief executive Raoul Nanavati said, in a release issued by the company

Investor Ronnie Screwvala said, in the release, that India's linguistic diversity creates an opportunity for specialised voice AI models and added that enterprise adoption would depend on data security and regulatory compliance.

Earlier this year, voice AI startup Gnani.ai raised $10 million in a funding round led by Aavishkaar Capital to expand its global footprint and invest in research and development.

More recently, Smallest AI raised $13 million in a round led by Seligman Ventures, with participation by Sierra Ventures and 3one4 Capital, to advance its real-time speech-to-speech technology.