AI voice automation company Skit.ai, formerly known as Vernacular.ai, has emerged as a global leader in multilingual customer experience solutions. Founded in 2016 by Sourabh Gupta and Akshay Deshraj, the Bengaluru-based startup powers over 10 million monthly conversations across industries, offering advanced AI-driven voice bots in more than 20 Indian and international languages.
In 2025, Skit.ai reported an estimated $50 million in annual revenue, with a client base spanning 50+ global enterprises, including BFSI, telecom, and travel sectors. The company’s growth underscores India’s leadership in applied AI and language technology innovation, particularly in bridging digital divides through vernacular solutions.
From Vernacular Roots to Global Expansion
Skit.ai began as Vernacular.ai, a research-driven effort to build speech recognition models suited to India’s diverse linguistic ecosystem. Its founders identified a critical gap — most global voice assistants struggled with Indian accents, tonal variations, and regional vocabulary.
By creating proprietary natural language processing (NLP) models for languages like Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and Marathi, the company enabled businesses to automate customer interactions in a way that felt human, local, and inclusive.
The rebranding to Skit.ai in 2021 marked a strategic pivot toward global markets. The company opened offices in New York and Singapore, expanding its client base across North America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
“We started with a mission to make AI understand every Indian voice — today, that mission extends to making global brands sound local everywhere,” said Sourabh Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of Skit.ai.
AI Voice Bots for a Conversational Economy
Skit.ai’s flagship product, VIVA (Voice Intelligence and Virtual Assistant), automates millions of customer support interactions every month. By combining speech recognition, emotion detection, and real-time intent analysis, it allows enterprises to scale personalized communication while reducing operational costs by up to 40%.
Industries such as banking, insurance, and collections have benefited significantly, with AI voice agents handling routine calls like payment reminders, loan updates, and service inquiries.
In India, Skit.ai collaborates with major private banks, fintech firms, and telecom providers, while globally, it partners with call center operators to bring efficiency to large-scale customer service operations.
Innovation and R&D at Core
A significant part of Skit.ai’s success lies in its research focus. The company invests nearly 25% of its annual expenditure in R&D, developing voice models tailored to complex, multi-accent environments.
Its latest innovation, the Adaptive Voice Engine (AVE), introduced in 2025, enables AI systems to mimic human empathy and handle conversational nuances like hesitation and emotion — a major leap in voice AI realism.
Skit.ai also announced a partnership with Microsoft Azure to enhance cloud integration and scalability for global clients.
Funding and Market Outlook
Backed by investors such as WestBridge Capital, Kalaari Capital, and Exfinity Ventures, Skit.ai has raised over $50 million to date. The company is now focusing on achieving profitability and exploring strategic acquisitions in the conversational AI ecosystem.
Analysts project that by 2030, the voice AI market will exceed $30 billion globally, and Skit.ai’s multilingual edge positions it as a frontrunner from the Global South.
Last Updated on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 2:04 pm by Startup Newswire Team
