Kedar Kulkarni

Kedar Kulkarni joined IIT Madras in 2008 and founded its Computer Vision Group, a student research group, in 2009, he told The Hindu. The future founders of HyperVerge all met there. He is now CEO of HyperVerge, whose products include HyperStart, an AI contract lifecycle management tool.

Brushing Off a Call From Vignesh Krishnakumar

The company started with a phone call. Co-founder Vignesh Krishnakumar, then on an internship, called Kulkarni with the idea of starting a company, and Kulkarni urged him to focus on the internship and revisit it later, according to YourStory. In 2013 the group decided to take up entrepreneurship. According to The Hindu, its first funding, about $15,000, came from the IIT-Madras Incubation Cell and Lema Labs, Kulkarni's first company.

Pivoting From Photo Apps to Enterprise Customers

HyperVerge raised a $1 million seed round from NEA, Milliways Ventures and Dallas Venture Capital in 2014, Kulkarni told PTI. "We started by building consumer applications with the dream of becoming the next Facebook or Instagram," he said. The company pivoted to a B2B model in late 2017.

With only six months of runway left, the founders met Sridhar Vembu of Zoho, whose example of a financially independent, profitable company reshaped their plans, according to YourStory.

Launching HyperStart for Contracts

HyperStart, a product by HyperVerge, is an AI contract lifecycle management tool that promises to help teams draft, negotiate and manage contracts 80% faster, according to HyperStart. Its about page lists Kulkarni as CEO and describes HyperVerge as a bootstrapped B2B SaaS company.