Krutrim shifts focus from AI models to cloud services in India

In short: Krutrim, a high valued Indian AI startup, says it is shifting from building its own AI models to selling cloud services.

What happened

Krutrim, based in Bengaluru, said it is moving toward cloud services after a business overhaul in late 2025. It said this included moving money and staff around, and pausing its chip design work.

“Cloud services” means renting out computing power over the internet, similar to renting storage space instead of buying a hard drive. For AI companies, that often means renting access to powerful chips called GPUs, which are commonly used to run AI systems.

The shift comes after a quieter period for Krutrim. The company has not made major product announcements in recent months, and local media has reported multiple rounds of layoffs totaling more than 200 roles. Another report said Krutrim pulled its Kruti AI assistant app from app stores in April.

Krutrim raised $50 million at a $1 billion valuation in January 2024 and released its Krutrim-2 base model in early 2025. It now says it has more than 25 enterprise customers for its AI cloud services across telecom, financial services, and healthcare, and that most of its GPU capacity is already committed.

Why it matters

This is a sign that building large AI models can be expensive and hard to sustain, especially outside the biggest global tech hubs. If more companies follow this path, India may see more AI businesses focusing on the “picks and shovels” side of the market, meaning the computing infrastructure that other companies rent to build and run AI.

Source: TechCrunch AI