Vishal Sikka has launched Hang Ten Systems at a moment when artificial intelligence is putting new pressure on SaaS companies and traditional IT services. The startup has already raised $32 million in seed funding and says it is focused on helping enterprises move faster in the AI era.
The company’s early traction has drawn attention because it reportedly secured customers only about a month after launch. That pace stands out in a market where many large organizations are still trying to define how AI should fit into their operations.
An AI-native approach for enterprise teams
Hang Ten Systems is being positioned as an AI-native alternative to older service models. Its work centers on agentic AI code generation, reusable capability libraries, and specialized engineering talent for enterprise clients.
Sikka has said that every company will eventually feel the impact of AI transformation. He argued that a small group of firms is already seeing large gains because they can build in days what once took years, while many others are still stuck at the starting line.
The startup appears designed to close that gap. Rather than simply selling AI tools, Hang Ten Systems aims to support organizations that need practical help getting AI into real development and business workflows.
Big-name clients and a seasoned founding group
Sikka said Hang Ten Systems already counts several major clients, including Fresenius and Siemens Energy, alongside other customers that have not been named publicly. For a newly formed company, that client base suggests rising demand for hands-on enterprise AI implementation.
The founding group also includes Jerry Yang, the Yahoo co-founder, adding further visibility to the startup. The early team features executives who have worked with Sikka at SAP, Infosys, and VianAI, including Navin Budhiraja, Sanjay Rajagopalan, and Tao Liu.
That background points to a company built for scale rather than a small experimental project. Hang Ten Systems is also hiring across delivery, engineering, sales, and leadership roles as it plans to expand into multiple locations.
Sikka’s AI track record is back in focus
Sikka has long been associated with early conviction about AI. He is credited with playing an important role in Infosys’ $3 million donation to OpenAI nearly a decade ago, well before ChatGPT and generative AI became mainstream.
That history gives the new venture added context. Hang Ten Systems looks like an extension of Sikka’s long-running view that AI would reshape enterprise technology, only now that view is being put into a startup built to serve corporate customers directly.
Rising pressure on IT services firms
The launch also comes as Indian IT companies are confronting the AI shift in different ways. Nandan Nilekani of Infosys recently said AI could actually strengthen business for the sector, even as concerns continue to grow around the future of classic software and services models.
Infosys, TCS, and other IT firms have already partnered with Anthropic and OpenAI to deepen AI integration. OpenAI and Anthropic have also built their own AI services operations, showing how quickly the market is moving beyond model development alone.
That broader shift leaves the next competitive battleground clearly defined. The key question is no longer just who has the best AI model, but who can help large organizations deploy AI across engineering, operations, and new system development with real speed.
Source: www.indiatoday.in