Mumbai/San Francisco: AI research startup Nugen has announced the successful completion of its pre-seed funding round, led by global venture capital firm Antler VC as part of its inaugural AI Disrupt portfolio.
The round brought in over $1 million in capital and GPU perks, with participation from prominent Silicon Valley investors. The funding will fuel Nugen’s research on Domain-Aligned AI™ technology and accelerate its go-to-market initiatives.
Nugen’s Mission: Reliable AI for Critical Business Workflows
While frontier AI models showcase remarkable capabilities, enterprises remain cautious about adopting generative AI for mission-critical business processes.
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The startup is addressing this trust gap by pioneering Domain-Aligned AI technology, embedding reliability and interpretability directly into deep learning architectures.
This approach enables domain-specific reasoning, reducing costly post-training and prompt engineering efforts, and allowing organizations to confidently deploy AI at scale.
Backing From Antler VC
“What excites us most about Nugen is their fundamental approach to the reliability problem,” said Winnie Khoo, Partner at Antler VC. “Instead of treating AI reliability as an afterthought, they have integrated it into the architecture itself, creating strong defensible moats and infrastructure for scalable business adoption.”
Nugen’s Founding Team and Research Focus
Founded by Aakash Patil and Mrunmayee Shende, Nugen brings together world-class expertise in AI research and go-to-market strategy.
Patil, who previously conducted deep learning research at Stanford University and holds a Ph.D. in computational mathematics, emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between AI’s potential and organizational trust.
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Shende, with extensive experience in deep tech across EMEA and APJ markets, highlighted that Nugen is building infrastructure that enables companies in highly regulated sectors like legal and finance to leverage AI without compromising on trust.
Building a Global Research Talent Hub
Nugen is actively recruiting top global talent in India to work on AI reliability and alignment challenges. The company is focused on building foundational research that will serve as the backbone of AI-native societies, creating reliable AI infrastructure for industries where accuracy and trust are critical.
