Ex-Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka Launches AI Startup Hang Ten with $32M Backing

Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka has launched a new AI startup, Hang Ten Systems, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with $32 million in seed funding led by Mayfield and backed by Aramco Ventures, announced Vishal in a post on X.

The company is already working with global enterprises like Fresenius and Siemens Energy to accelerate AI adoption. "Our dream is to help enterprises not just transform with AI, but use it as a force to do what no one could do before", said Vishal in the social media post. 

Hang Ten Systems: Key Highlights

• Founder: Vishal Sikka, ex-CEO of Infosys and former CTO at SAP.
• Funding: $32 million seed round led by Mayfield, with participation from Aramco Ventures and angel investors.
• Location: Palo Alto, California.
• Board Member: Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang has joined the board.
• Early Clients: Fresenius, Siemens Energy, and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

Business Model & Technology

• AI-native delivery model: Uses agentic code generation, reusable skills libraries, and specialised engineering teams.
• Focus Areas: Enterprise functions like finance, HR, and product development.
• Goal: Reduce the time, cost, and complexity of enterprise software development compared to traditional IT services.
• Vision: “Every company will be transformed by AI… most are stuck at the starting line, and the gap is widening every day,” said Sikka.

Comparison: Hang Ten vs Traditional IT Services

Hang Ten Systems	Traditional IT Services
AI-native delivery model	Manual configuration & integration
Agentic code generation	Long development cycles
Reusable skills libraries	Custom coding per client
Faster enterprise adoption	Slower, costlier implementation
Early clients: Fresenius, Siemens Energy	Established IT outsourcing clients

Industry Context

• Indian IT firms like Infosys and TCS have thrived on SaaS, but AI threatens to disrupt this model.
• Hang Ten Systems positions itself as an AI-native alternative, potentially reshaping enterprise IT services.
• Market Outlook: Infosys predicts AI-first IT services could reach $400 billion by 2030.

Challenges Ahead 

• Enterprise adoption gap: Many firms still struggle to extract value from AI investments.
• Competition: Established players (Infosys, TCS, Accenture) are also investing heavily in AI.
• Scalability: Hang Ten must prove its model works across industries and geographies.

To recall, Vishal Sikka also launched Vianai Systems in 2019 after he left Infosys. Vianai focuses on AI-powered decision-making tools for enterprises. Similar to Hang Ten Systems, Vianai Systems also emerged from stealth with $50M seed funding, later raised $140M in 2021 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Both Vianai and Hang Ten target large corporations struggling to extract value from AI.

Besides, as Infosys CEO, Vishal Sikka oversaw a $3M donation to OpenAI nearly a decade ago (2015), long before ChatGPT’s rise demonstrating his early recognition of AI’s transformative potential. Infosys considered a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, alongside Amazon Web Services, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman. However, the plan was scrapped due to disagreements between co‑founder N. R. Narayana Murthy and Vishal.

Timeline of Vishal Sikka’s Startup Bets

Year	Startup	Focus	Funding
2016	Infosys donation to OpenAI	AI research	$3M
2019	Vianai Systems	Enterprise AI decision-making	$50M seed, $140M Series A
2026	Hang Ten Systems	AI-native enterprise software delivery	$32M seed

TCS Partners with Vishal Sikka’s Vianai to Bring GenAI to Executive Decision-Making

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has partnered with Vianai Systems, founded by former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, to introduce generative AI (GenAI) tools for enterprise decision-making.

TCS is embedding GenAl into core business functions, making Al a boardroom priority.

The collaboration aims to accelerate Al adoption across industries, improving efficiency and decision-making. This partnership represents a major step in integrating trustworthy Al into corporate decision-making.

Key Highlights:

• Hila Platform: Vianai’s Hila platform enables C-suite executives to interact with business data using natural language, eliminating the need for technical expertise. Hila is expected to be particularly useful in financial services, where data complexity often slows decision-making.
• Strategic Focus: TCS will customize Hila for finance, supply chain, sales, and CRM, ensuring seamless integration into enterprise systems.
• AI-Driven Insights: The platform enhances real-time decision-making, allowing executives to query internal data and receive actionable insights.
• Anti-Hallucination Features: Hila is designed for accuracy, speed, and trust, incorporating techniques to prevent AI-generated errors.

This collaboration aligns with TCS’s broader AI strategy, embedding GenAI into core business functions to simplify analytics and improve efficiency.

Hila enables C-suite leaders to interact with business data using natural language, eliminating the need for technical expertise. The platform allows executives to query internal data and receive instant, actionable insights.

Designed for accuracy and trust, Hila incorporates safeguards to prevent Al-generated errors.

TCS will tailor Hila for industries like finance, supply chain, sales, and CRM, ensuring seamless integration. TCS will provide ongoing assistance to ensure smooth adoption and functionality.

This partnership aligns with TCS's broader Al-driven transformation initiatives.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has formed several strategic partnerships with AI companies to enhance enterprise solutions and drive AI adoption.

To recall, TCS launched the Cognix™ Platform for Network Services on Google Cloud, strengthening its GenAI solutions for clients in communications, media, and information services. They also set up a GenAI Experience Centre at the TCS Pace Port™ in New York to help clients prototype AI-driven solutions.

TCS also collaborates with Microsoft to integrate AI-driven automation into enterprise applications, focusing on cloud-based AI solutions. Further, TCS has worked with IBM Watson to develop AI-powered analytics for industries like banking, healthcare, and retail.

Ex-Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka founded AI Startup Vian Systems Raises $50 Mn

Vian Systems, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup founded by Vishal Sikka, a former Executive Vice Chairman, CEO and MD of Infosys, has raised $50 million in funding from two unknown investors, reported Economic Times citing documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Founded by Sikka, Vian Systems is a Palo Alto, California technology company operating in stealth mode in San Francisco Bay Area.

According to the filing, Vian Systems offered $50 million in equity for sale and the sale has been completed. This "includes contribution of certain intellectual property assets," the company said in a clarification to the equity offering quantum.

"Mr Sikka is receiving no compensation for his role in the offering beyond his usual and customary salary as an officer of the corporation," said the filing.

The stealth-startup has a one-page website, which says it is “building a world full of intelligence and life” and has an email link for prospective employees.

Notably, Sikka himself is a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University and a honorary doctorate of Engineering from Queensland University.

According to the form filed with the SEC, Vian Systems Inc. has some revenues coming in.

Sikka, an Indian-American, had resigned from Infosys as MD and CEO in August 2017 and the reasons reported at that time was his attempt of moving Infosys into AI and Robotics ventures.

In an interview in that year, Sikka shared that a CEO's effort towards reshaping a company is very difficult even if everybody in the company was supporting it, but if the founder goes up against that, then that tasks becomes impossible. The statement gives one a clear understanding of what exactly is Sikka hinting at.

Robotics and AI Venturing Attempts Among Reasons For Vishal Sikka's Exit From Infosys

Once the poster boy for IT success in India, Infosys seldom finds place in the newspapers nowadays. Whenever it does manage to grab some place, it is mostly for all the wrong reasons. This time around the once IT superpower of India is in the headlines for the shocking departure of its high profile CEO, Vishal Sikka. The thing that is making people in the corporate world wonder the most about this particular exit is what was the real reason that made Sikka hang his boots and walk away.

Sikka as a CEO was a first for Infosys. The 50 year old business world biggie was Infosys' first non-founder CEO. It's ironical, how the one thing that made him standout during his appointment, was ultimately the thing that fuelled his departure.

In a recent interview to Financial Times, Sikka shared that a CEO's effort towards reshaping a company is very difficult even if everybody in the company was supporting it, but if the founder goes up against that, then that tasks becomes impossible. The statement gives one a clear understanding of what exactly is Sikka hinting at.

Sikka, "the outsider", had been trying hard to save Infosys' sinking shape and had even succeeded in doing the same at certain places. He was the first one who brought some stability to the company's market performance since it had begun going down the hill almost a decade ago.

Since assuming power and taking a stock of the matters at the company, Sikka observed that large scale automation was slowly making the company's back office processing and IT support irrelevant. He realised that in order for Infosys to survive and flourish in the coming years, it will have to embrace innovation.

The rapid automation that the world is witnessing today makes moving into emerging sectors like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics an obvious move for IT firms, but unfortunately, Infosys was no where to be seen in the creme de la creme of these sectors. Sikka tried changing this scenario and changing the company's direction towards these disruptive sectors but was met with unhappy faces of the company's founding members, who over the years have become comfortable with making profits through labour arbitrage and don't want to take any extreme chances.

Sikka's departure and Nandan Nilekani's return is a true blue example of the larger malaise that still exists within the Indian corporates as a whole. It highlights how even in 2017, Indian founders have a tough time letting go of their control over the company and are always ready to dive back into the pool whenever they feel uncomfortable with the operations and decisions of the current "non-founder" leadership. Such behaviour is highly unhealthy for a company's stability.

Infosys Issues Statement on Vishal Sikka’s Resignation, His Current Role & Salary

At its board meeting held on August 18, 2017, the Board of Directors of Infosys accepted the notice of resignation of Dr. Vishal Sikka as the Managing Director and CEO, effective immediately.

In his notice of resignation to the Board, Dr. Sikka reiterated his belief in the great potential of Infosys, but cited among his reasons for leaving a continuous stream of distractions and disruptions over the recent months and quarters, increasingly personal and negative as of late, as preventing management's ability to accelerate the Company's transformation. Below is the resignation intimation received by the Board from Dr. Sikka.

Dear Board Colleagues,

Over the last few days, since our earlier call, I've met Sesh several times, talked to you individually at length, and spent time thinking things thru with Vandana.  During this time, one of our employees, Sandeep Karamongikar, died in his sleep, likely of a massive heart attack.  He was working on the chatbot frontend in Nia.  Also over the weekend, in possibly the greatest demonstration of AI capability ever, a bot built by the researchers at OpenAI (yes, that OpenAI), defeated the world's best players of DOTA2, a multiplayer online video game, a game where the bot learned to play entirely from scratch.  Further demonstrating that the force to automate routine, even advanced, activities is an unstoppable and exponential one.  And the Charlottesville incident here in the US demonstrated once again the power of words and silences to cause real damage, or to heal.

After much reflection, I have concluded that it is indeed time for me to leave my current positions as MD and CEO, and I have communicated my resignation to Sesh.

I will be working closely with Sesh, Ravi, Pravin, with all of you, and the senior management team to plan out the details and the timelines to ensure a smooth transition and in the meantime, continue our work without disruption, and ensuring that we protect our company, the employees, the clients, and the interests of every shareholder. You can count on my commitment to this.

I came here to help navigate the company through what I saw as a massive transformation opportunity, to transform our company and restore strong profitable growth, as well as help transform the business of our customers. I came to do this with the power of technology, given my experiences with similar transformations, my background in AI, and the structural changes that I saw happening in the IT services industry. This needed new skills, new thinking, new initiatives, and a transformation in the culture, from a cost-oriented value delivery, to entrepreneurship oriented value delivery. You have heard me articulate this many times before. This type of a transformation has always been a passion for me, indeed I took this job for this reason.  We have achieved much in the last 3+ years, and for sure we can all be proud of the powerful seeds of transformation that have already been sowed.  No one anticipated the additional headwinds like the geo-political disruptions (Brexit, Trump, visa etc.) that made this transformation even more challenging, but also rewarding. But, the distractions that we have seen, the constant drumbeat of the same issues over and over again, while ignoring and undermining the good work that has been done, take the excitement and passion out of this amazing journey. Over the last many months and quarters, we have all been besieged by false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks.  Allegations that have been repeatedly proven false and baseless by multiple, independent investigations. But despite this, the attacks continue, and worse still, amplified by the very people from whom we all expected the most steadfast support in this great transformation.  This continuous drumbeat of distractions and negativity over the last several months/quarters, inhibits our ability to make positive change and stay focused on value creation.  Addressing the noise by itself is damaging; hundreds of hours of my own time has gone into this recently.  But the structural challenges this engenders within the organization, has a very damaging effect on our ability to carry out any kind of a transformation, especially one that is as fundamental as transforming from a cost-oriented to an innovation-oriented value delivery to clients.

Therefore, I have come to this moment and the end of this journey. I hope that it gives everyone a chance to reflect, and give the transformation effort another big push and move the company forward rapidly to build its future, to build upon the foundation that we have laid over these past 3 years.  If these types of attacks continue, I hope each of you will continue to be the voice of fairness and reason - providing the active, emphatic and unequivocal support that the company, the management, the employees, and all of the stakeholders and friends of the company need in order to succeed.  Since the board deeply believes in the cause we have started, I will be happy to support all of you to achieve a smooth transition, and serve as your Executive Vice Chair as discussed.

I would like to thank each one of you, my dear colleagues, my friends and mentors, and look forward to working with you to close this chapter and open a great new one for all of us.

Best,

V

The Board thanks Dr. Sikka for his outstanding leadership of the Company, and for his extraordinary contributions during a period of rapid evolution in this industry. The Board also appreciates Dr. Sikka’s commitment to facilitate a smooth transition to new leadership fully equipped to lead Infosys forward in this new era in our industry and to ensure continuity in our service to our valued customers. Consequently, the following arrangement (for which shareholder approval will be sought, as applicable) has been put in place as of today:

· Dr. Sikka has been appointed Executive Vice Chairman effective today, and will hold office until the new permanent Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director takes charge, which should be no later than March 31, 2018.

· Dr. Sikka will continue to focus on strategic initiatives, key customer relationships and technology development. He will report to the Company’s Board.

· Mr. U. B. Pravin Rao has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director reporting to Dr. Sikka under the overall supervision and control of the Company’s Board.

Dr. Sikka will receive an annual salary of $1 during his tenure as Executive Vice Chairman. Any Company equity awards held by Dr. Sikka that remain outstanding and unvested shall, during his term as Executive Vice Chairman, remain outstanding and shall continue to vest (and, in the case of stock options, become exercisable) in accordance with their terms.

When Dr. Sikka took over, the Company was lagging behind industry growth. During Dr. Sikka’s tenure as CEO, Infosys revenues have grown from $2.13B in Q1FY15 to $2.65B this past Q1, with strong margin performance and cash generation, throughout his tenure. Dr. Sikka's approach to profitable growth delivered increase in liquid assets (including cash and cash equivalents) from $4.9B in June 2014 to $6.1B in June 2017, while paying dividends of over INR 19,000 Cr. (including dividend distribution tax) over these three years.

Under the leadership of Dr. Sikka, Infosys launched breakthrough new programs to drive innovation, education and entrepreneurship on a large scale. These programs included (i) Zero Distance, a program which was the first of its kind in the industry intended to drive grassroots innovation at a massive scale, through every employee, (ii) Design Thinking training, the largest program of its kind to drive creative confidence and problem-finding in every Infoscion, and (iii) Zero Bench, a bold notion of leveraging the bench as a means to drive additional value for clients. Employee attrition has decreased dramatically during Dr. Sikka's tenure, particularly among high performers, utilization is at a 10-year high, and client satisfaction is at an all-time high. The Company launched more than 25 new services which rose to 8.3% of revenue last quarter, from zero percent in April 2015. Dr. Sikka has also been a thought leader and visionary in artificial intelligence technology, recognizing early on the unprecedented value Infosys could deliver through automation and artificial intelligence-led innovation in clients' businesses. Under his leadership, Infosys developed and launched its artificial intelligence platform Nia, and already has more than 160 artificial intelligence scenarios deployed with more than 70 clients. Infosys has also ventured into new horizons both with design-thinking with clients and its start-up investment fund. Further, the Infosys US foundation has done inspiring work in bringing computer science education and a culture of innovating to the masses.

"Vishal has made a seminal contribution to the transformation of Infosys, and he will be remembered for infusing a refreshed sense of direction, purpose and energy in the organization. His vision for the future of the industry and the Company will remain a strong reference point as we chart the future course for Infosys in this new era in our rapidly evolving industry. On behalf of our entire board of directors, I wish him well for the future," said R. Seshasayee, Chairman of the Board.

Ravi Venkatesan, Co-Chairman of the Board, said: "I want to thank Vishal for his commitment to ensure a smooth transition and his commitment to a seamless experience for our clients. Pravin is a veteran Infoscion with deep knowledge of the business, and his long experience in the Company will help ensure a smooth transition."

Dr. Sikka commented, "I started my journey as the CEO of this iconic Company with a mission to transform it on the basis of software, especially [artificial intelligence], and innovation, enabled by education. Three years later, I feel proud of our progress and achievements, from profitable revenue growth to rapid purposeful adoption of software, new services and grassroots innovation, to the extraordinary recognition from our clients worldwide. I am deeply grateful to our Board for providing me with strong support and guidance, and especially wish to thank our Chairman [Seshasayee] for his extraordinary and thoughtful stewardship, and look forward to working together on a smooth transition. Congratulations to my friend and partner Pravin on his appointment, and heartfelt thanks to all Infoscions for their warmth, amazing support and the sparks of their imagination."

The Board has mandated the Chairman and the Nomination and Remuneration Committee to expeditiously identify and select a permanent CEO and Managing Director.

Infosys To Make Second Startup Investment In An IoT Startup

Infosys, the software giant, is about to make its second startup investment under its new CEO Vishal Sikka. It will also be the company's second investment this year. The software giant is looking to invest in an Indian startup that makes air quality detectors. The investment is a part of the company's strategy to identify more and more next generation technologies under the newly appointed CEO. Vishal Sikka joined the company as a CEO in August last year.

"There is a small company we are investing in that makes an air quality detector that you can just drop in stores, in hospitals, in mines and it detects air quality and it is connected to the cloud and you can stream the data," said Sikka.

The name of the startup that Infosys has its eyes set on was not revealed by Sikka. He just revealed that the company specializes in Internet of Things (IoT), which is an emerging network of non-computing and computing devices interacting with each other and creating huge amount of data that can be easily converted into new revenue streams and business insights.

Infosys is likely to close the deal with the air quality detector maker company by April this year. “The world around us is fundamentally being reshaped by software, and IT companies are not serving IT needs. So investing in these companies is essential," said Sikka in the interview.

Infosys, India’s second biggest software company, made its first startup earlier this year. The Bangalore based IT company bought a minority stake in a startup for around $15 million (Rs.90 crore).

This new investment by Infosys syncs with Sikka’s strategy to bet big on big data and artificial intelligence. He believes that these can become big revenue earners in the future.

According to Martin Haemmig, a global expert on corporate venturing, Wipro, Infosys, TCS have all understood that "linear" growth models for outsourcing no longer holds for the future, hence, they need to look at "exponential" growth models through innovation. Haemmig gave this statement to the Economic Times.

Infosys To Make Second Startup Investment In An IoT Startup

Infosys, the software giant, is about to make its second startup investment under its new CEO Vishal Sikka. It will also be the company's second investment this year. The software giant is looking to invest in an Indian startup that makes air quality detectors. The investment is a part of the company's strategy to identify more and more next generation technologies under the newly appointed CEO. Vishal Sikka joined the company as a CEO in August last year.

"There is a small company we are investing in that makes an air quality detector that you can just drop in stores, in hospitals, in mines and it detects air quality and it is connected to the cloud and you can stream the data," said Sikka.

The name of the startup that Infosys has its eyes set on was not revealed by Sikka. He just revealed that the company specializes in Internet of Things (IoT), which is an emerging network of non-computing and computing devices interacting with each other and creating huge amount of data that can be easily converted into new revenue streams and business insights.

Infosys is likely to close the deal with the air quality detector maker company by April this year. “The world around us is fundamentally being reshaped by software, and IT companies are not serving IT needs. So investing in these companies is essential," said Sikka in the interview.

Infosys, India’s second biggest software company, made its first startup earlier this year. The Bangalore based IT company bought a minority stake in a startup for around $15 million (Rs.90 crore).

This new investment by Infosys syncs with Sikka’s strategy to bet big on big data and artificial intelligence. He believes that these can become big revenue earners in the future.

According to Martin Haemmig, a global expert on corporate venturing, Wipro, Infosys, TCS have all understood that "linear" growth models for outsourcing no longer holds for the future, hence, they need to look at "exponential" growth models through innovation. Haemmig gave this statement to the Economic Times.