Nurix AI expects to hit $10 million in projected annual revenue by the first half of next year
Next Story
Rwit Ghosh Backed by $25 million in early-stage funding, Mukesh Bansal's latest startup is betting on voice-first enterprise agents and deep domain focus to stand out in a crowded AI market. Mukseh Bansal, founder and CEO, Nurix AI. Gift this article
Bengaluru: Agentic artificial intelligence startup Nurix AI expects to hit $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by the first half of next year, according to founder and chief executive Mukesh Bansal.
Bengaluru: Agentic artificial intelligence startup Nurix AI expects to hit $10 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by the first half of next year, according to founder and chief executive Mukesh Bansal.
'In the last three quarters we've nearly doubled our revenue. October was our first revenue quarter," Bansal told Mint in an interview. He declined to disclose Nurix's current revenue.
The $10 million target marks an ambitious trajectory for Bansal's third venture. Unlike his earlier consumer-facing startups—Cultfit and Myntra, which Flipkart acquired for over $330 million in 2014—Nurix operates as a business-to-business enterprise AI platform.
'AI cannot just work out of the box. You need someone who can understand what AI is able to do, how enterprise operates and how do I make them talk to each other and get something useful done, and that is going to be a moving target," Bansal said.
At the heart of Nurix's pitch is agentic AI, autonomous algorithms that adapt and learn while handling specific enterprise tasks like customer service, invoicing or lead qualification.
The market for agentic AI is expected to expand sharply in coming years. Gartner forecasts that by 2029, agentic AI will handle 80% of customer service interactions, driving down operational costs by at least 30%. US expansion
Nurix entered the US market only a quarter ago but expects business to scale quickly. 'By the end of the current financial year, the revenue split between India and the US will be 50:50," said Bansal. In India, the company serves a diverse set of customers, while its US push is concentrated on retail and insurance.
Currently, Nurix has a little over 20 customers in India, primarily in retail and insurance, which together account for 70% of its revenue. The rest comes from education, travel and healthcare. 'Twelve months from now, this number of 20 customers should be over 100," said Bansal.
For the next 12 to 18 months, Nurix plans to focus on voice-first agents, where it sees the strongest enterprise adoption. To support this, it recently launched NuPlay, a low-code platform that allows clients to configure AI agents simply by specifying the role and instructions. Crowded field, narrow moats
The surge in agentic AI has drawn a growing number of players.
'The space being crowded is generally a good sign that demonstrates that the market is large. If it's a very exciting opportunity there are a lot of players, so I think by and large that is good news," Bansal said.
Still, being a voice-first agent isn't sufficient defensibility in an increasingly crowded field. 'Enterprise is not so much about a software, it's about how well you understand a particular enterprise and then how you're able to make software do the work in that context," said Bansal. To that end, Nurix is prioritizing deeper domain knowledge, particularly in retail, leveraging the sector experience of much of its team.
Several Indian startups have emerged with similar ambitions, including Plotch.ai, Kogo AI, and Atomicwork, while SaaS incumbents are adding AI agents into their offerings. Fractal Analytics, India's first AI unicorn, is betting heavily on its agentic AI suite to drive revenue this year.
Read this | Fractal bets on agentic AI to drive revenue
In September 2024, Nurix raised $27.5 million at an undisclosed valuation in a seed-cum-Series-A round led by General Catalyst and Accel to fuel its expansion. Bansal's own startup studio, Meraki Labs, also participated in the round.
While selling to large enterprises often involves long sales cycles, Bansal believes his consumer-tech background remains relevant.
'All the B2C patterns are becoming very relevant [in B2B] now," he said, citing customer obsession, precise insights and user-friendly design. 'In some ways, we're selling to enterprises, but building B2C solutions for them and they're using our agent and putting it in front of their customers." Topics You May Be Interested In Catch all the Business News , Corporate news , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
16 billion passwords: How bad is the ‘world's largest data breach'?
New Delhi: On 19 June, a report by cybercrime and data breach reporting platform Cybernews said that a collection of 30 live databases was found with information stolen from individuals around the world—collecting what was claimed as 16 billion passwords and their corresponding credentials. The details reportedly belonged to users who had accounts on the most popular online services—Apple, Facebook, Google and others. Has the breach in question really put most users of the internet at risk? Perhaps not—Mint explains why. What really happened in the alleged data breach? Cybersecurity researchers that Mint spoke with said that the breaches in question were not strictly new or a single consolidated breach, as early reports had claimed. Instead, the new databases are more like master databases where breached information gathered over almost the past decade was put together by an unidentified group or entity. To put it simply, data breaches occur from either unsecured online databases that cyber criminals scrape to collect information, or as part of cyber attacks on large online platforms that lead to the leakage of sensitive information. The largest known data breach so far occurred in 2016, when cyber attackers breached the entire database of once-search and mail giant Yahoo—stealing over 3 billion passwords and related user credentials at one go. Also read: India's big AI test is here: Making sovereign language models work Four cybersecurity researchers that Mint spoke with said that the 'master' database with 16 billion passwords and other corresponding data—such as name, email addresses, dates of birth and other personally identifiable information (PII)—is likely a collection of multiple breaches, dating back to 2015. Is such a widespread data breach even possible? While no number of breaches is outside the realm of possibility, most researchers stated that a single breach exposing such a massive volume of sensitive information at one time is nearly unlikely. 'There are estimates of over 5.5 billion unique users on the internet. Given that any average individual would have at least two or three emails, plus accounts linked with around 10-15 online services—served by an average of around five unique passwords, an extrapolated hypothesis can be that a breach of 16 billion passwords would likely impact over 40% of all internet users globally. For this to happen in one single coordinated data breach would be akin to all of Europe, Asia and then some more being compromised at one go—which is nearly unthinkable even in today's cybersecurity climate," said an independent cybersecurity researcher who closely works with various government departments, requesting anonymity. Mint could not independently access the alleged database in question or verify whether the information is updated. However, a scroll through cyber breach tracker Have I Been Pwned by noted cyber security professional and Microsoft regional director for the US, Troy Hunt, signified that passwords that have been in use on Apple, Facebook and Google's platforms since at least 2018 have not surfaced online in the repository's list of breached passwords. Also read: Sovereign silicon: India targets indigenous 2nm, Nvidia-level GPU by 2030 To be sure, Have I Been Pwned is a public repository that regularly scrapes dark web databases for leaked passwords, such as the one mentioned here. What should users do in this regard? Cybersecurity experts stated that, irrespective of whether their passwords appear in breach trackers such as the one cited above, updating passwords once every six months is prudent. Heather Adkins, vice-president of security engineering at Google, said that as part of its global endeavours to ramp up cybersecurity, the company is in the process of collaborating with Apple, Microsoft and others in a global 'Fido Alliance'—which seeks to establish 'passkeys' as a standard for login. 'Passkeys reduce the dependency on passwords, and thus reduce how breaches occur by using the biometric authentication information that is stored on users' phones and laptops. The benefit here is that attackers cannot breach biometric information even if they want, since they require on-device authentication. Various emails and other logins are steadily shifting to passkeys in this regard," Adkins said. Sidharth Mutreja, cofounder and chief technology officer of homegrown enterprise security consultant Rockladder Technologies, added that a second step is to 'enable two-factor authentication." 'As a second layer of security, users should always either use one-time password-based additional verification or use authenticator apps to ensure that their accounts and personal information are not breached even if a password is compromised. Additionally, it's important to ensure that any caller or email sender is personally verified before they are responded to," he added. For now, though, each of the researchers agrees that no user is at 'immediate risk of losing access to all of their accounts"—even though initial reports projected widespread risk, unlike what was seen before. Can attackers still leverage the information? Unfortunately, yes. The presence of such databases means that attackers with deep pockets and ill intent can pay to access such databases and use the information for a wide range of tasks. These include actions such as 'spear phishing'—where attackers use available information about individuals to closely impersonate a potential acquaintance, and dupe them financially or otherwise. Also read: Eye in the sky: India to set up satellites to spy on satellites To be sure, such attacks have become common in India in the form of 'digital arrests' and originate from such databases. A single, coordinated database could thus be a crucial indirect resource for attackers, even if they do not immediately cause any direct harm to users. Will companies handle damages and fallouts, if any? Mutreja said that a coordinated database that collates all breached information under one umbrella 'could create significant liability for enterprises in terms of securing their own platform with database monitoring tools—and put the onus on consumers to instantly and continuously change their passwords." 'There's no one set law that dictates if a company should be liable for a public database—unless a breach in question directly correlates to a company specifically. In such a case, users can directly raise questions on whether companies should have better protected their data. In this case, though, this does not hold," he added. Apple, Facebook and Google—the three major service providers whose information was a part of the breach as per the original report—have not issued any statements or patches pertaining to a data breach of such stature.
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Top 3 travel credit cards to earn free flights and hotel stays
Looking to earn free flight tickets and hotel stays through your credit card reward points? It's not as simple as picking one 'best" card, experts say. The ideal choice depends largely on how much you spend annually and what categories you spend on, said Sumanta Mandal, founder, Technofino, a digital platform that reviews credit cards and other banking products. 'It depends on both the spending volume and the categories—whether it's discretionary spends like travel and shopping, or recurring expenses of utilities, groceries and fuel," he explained. Most travel-focused cards offer the highest rewards on discretionary expenses. While it's possible to earn points on routine expenses like utilities, groceries, and even school fees, if your major expenses fall in these categories you may have to temper your expectations. Adding to the complexity, not all cards reward every type of expense equally. For example, payments towards fuel, insurance premiums, taxes, and education fees on some cards may not earn rewards, or may earn very little. That's why many users find it useful to hold more than one card to maximize reward points across categories. That said, there's no need to go overboard. 'Two to three well-chosen cards are usually enough to cover most major expenses and optimize travel rewards," said Mandal. The key is to swipe the credit cards for everything from groceries and dining to utility bills and insurance payments. However, substantial spending is essential to unlock meaningful travel benefits. 'Credit cards only yield significant travel rewards at higher spending levels," said Tejas Ghongadi, co-founder of The Points Code. 'If your total annual spending, including discretionary and utility expenses, is under ₹10 lakh, cashback cards are likely a better fit. You wouldn't earn enough rewards for meaningful redemptions." In this story, Mint recommends three of the best travel-focused credit cards for two types of users: moderate spenders with annual expenses of ₹10-15 lakh, and high spenders who exceed ₹15 lakh in annual expenses. The spending limits are exclusive of rent and fuel as almost no credit card gives travel rewards on these. Annual spending of ₹10-15 lakh Axis Atlas stands out as a valuable travel credit card for moderate spenders. It earns 2 Edge Miles (EMs) per ₹100 on all regular expenses, including offline purchases and education fees, and 5 EMs per ₹100 on flight and hotel bookings. Bonus EMs of 2,500 each are awarded on reaching ₹3 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh spending milestones. EMs can be redeemed either for revenue bookings via the Axis TravelEdge portal at 1 EM = ₹1 value or transferred to airline and hotel partners. Revenue bookings are done by using reward points to book flight tickets or hotels directly instead of transferring rewards to airline or hotel partners. Transfers offer a higher reward rate at 1:2 transfer ratio for most partners, except Marriott Bonvoy at 2:1, translating to a 4-10% effective return versus 2-5% on revenue bookings. 'Atlas can serve as your primary travel card, especially for those who transfer miles to partners like Accor for up to a 10% reward rate," said Mandal of Technofino. However, a key limitation is the annual cap of 30,000 EMs for transfers to premium partners like Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Accor, Marriott, United Airlines, and Wyndham. 'Once you hit the 30,000-point cap, typically after ₹7.5-8 lakh in spending, any additional EMs earned become unusable until the next year," Mandal added. Still, those 30,000 EMs can fetch up to 8-10 nights at Accor hotels in Europe, where 1 point is worth about ₹1.9. Also read | How this family packed food, fun, and Fuji into a ₹5.5 lakh Japan adventure 'In that sense, Atlas stands out as a rare card that delivers maximum value even for low spends of ₹7-8 lakh. However, the high reward rate at this spending level is limited to Accor as the transfer partner," said Ghongadi of The Points Code. After maxing out Atlas rewards, Ghongadi suggests considering the HSBC TravelOne or American Express Platinum Travel cards. With Amex currently not issuing new cards, HSBC TravelOne is a strong alternative. It offers 2% rewards on regular expenses, 4% on travel, and around 8% when transferring to Accor. TravelOne also offers a 15% instant discount on bookings via Yatra, Cleartrip, EaseMyTrip, and Paytm, with rewards earned on the discounted amount. For example, a ₹10,000 booking would be reduced to ₹8,500, which then earns 4% rewards. Both Atlas and TravelOne exclude utilities, jewellery, and tax payments from rewards. Additionally, Atlas excludes insurance, while TravelOne excludes education fees. Also read | How real estate helps Vijay Kedia invest in stocks Annual expenses over ₹15 lakh HDFC Bank's Infinia and Diners Club Black (DCB) Metal are among the most rewarding credit cards for high spenders. Both offer a strong base reward rate of 3.33%, access to the same transfer partners, and a 1 RP = ₹1 redemption value on HDFC's SmartBuy platform. Where these cards truly shine is with accelerated rewards on SmartBuy. Hotel bookings earn 10X points, while flight bookings get 5X rewards on both cards. Infinia also gives 5X rewards on gift voucher purchases. A key difference lies in monthly reward caps: DCB limits bonus RPs to 10,000, while Infinia allows up to 15,000. Both cards are ideal for users who are new to loyalty programmes and prefer revenue bookings over miles transfers since RPs redeem at 1 RP=Re 1 value on SmartBuy. In comparison, the points transfer ratio ranges from 1:0.5 to 1:1. Another strong contender in this segment is ICICI Emerald Private for those favouring straightforward revenue bookings. Also read | Diderot's Curse and the BNPL Trap: Why India's middle class may be walking into a debt crisis A better rewarding card for this category is Axis Magnus Burgundy. However, it is meant for the very rich, or ultra-high-net-worth individuals. With a steep annual fee of ₹35,400, eligibility requires a Total Relationship Value (TRV) of ₹30 lakh in fixed deposits and savings accounts, ₹10 lakh quarterly average balance, or a ₹3 lakh monthly salary in an Axis account. For those spending over ₹25 lakh annually, Magnus Burgundy's superior 5:4 miles transfer ratio can be highly rewarding. However, there's no need to hold all three cards. 'A combination like Atlas and DCB or Infinia is usually enough," said Ghongadi. 'Holding both Magnus and Atlas means overlapping exclusions—like jewellery spends are excluded on Axis cards but not on HDFC." Choosing between DCB and Infinia depends on an individual's spending pattern. 'If you consistently hit ₹4 lakh in quarterly spends, DCB's extra 10,000 RPs adds a 2.5% reward rate boost. On the other hand, for those heavily into gift vouchers, Infinia's 5X rate makes it more valuable," Ghongadi explained. Also read | Risk of narratives: When everyone saw it coming and still got it wrong How much spending will get you free flights, hotels Once you've chosen your credit cards, you need to assess how much you need to spend to earn free flights and hotel stays. According to Mandal, those with annual expenses up to ₹15 lakh can typically earn enough points for either free hotel stays or business class tickets, but not both. 'For example, a couple might earn enough for two flight tickets with ₹15 lakh in annual spending," he said. For a family of four aiming to cover both flights and hotel stays, the requirements are steeper. 'You'd need around 150,000 reward points, which typically means spending about ₹40 lakh annually, primarily on discretionary categories," Mandal explained. Ghongadi agreed. 'Quarterly spends of ₹10-12 lakh can generate enough points for a family of four to enjoy one holiday per year, covering both flights and hotels." That said, mid-range spenders should manage their expectations and avoid overspending just to chase rewards. 'Banks tend to offer higher rewards on discretionary spending because these categories increase the likelihood of overspending and default," Ghongadi cautioned. 'Cardholders must stay disciplined and not fall into that trap." Also read | Why wealth management shouldn't be reserved for the rich
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
Colgate-Palmolive eyes H2 rebound amid urban stress, rural growth
New Delhi: Despite a 'tough" March quarter and lingering pressure on many urban consumers, Prabha Narasimhan, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd, expects a rebound in consumer sentiment and spending in the latter half of the year. She cited government interventions, improved liquidity and a good start to the monsoons as key drivers for this change. 'We're hoping the uptick in consumer sentiment happens towards the back end of the year. The government has intervened, there's been a tax cut, liquidity has improved, monsoons are meant to be quite good this year—all of those should certainly help. We see two pockets of opportunity—the top 30% of urban India has no shortage of money for FMCG products; they continue to want to premiumize. Meanwhile, rural India continues to be buoyant—crops have been good and the sentiment is also positive. However, there is stress in 70% of urban India that has been slightly under pressure," Narasimhan said in an interview with Mint on Monday. Also read: Trent sticks to the long-term goal of growing 25% every year In fiscal 2025, the maker of toothbrushes and body wash reported a 6.3% increase in sales, reaching ₹5,999 crore, compared to ₹5,644 crore in the previous year. The company's profit after tax in FY25 grew by 8.5% to ₹1,437 crore, up from ₹1,324 crore in the previous year. However, the fourth quarter saw a dip in both profit and sales, with net profit down 6.5% to ₹355 crore and revenue declining 2% to ₹1,452 crore. Rural volumes grew ahead of urban for the Mumbai-headquartered company during the fiscal year. The March quarter was 'tough", she said. Analysts attributed this to greater competition and weak urban demand. Managing consumption 'Consumers respond to a feeling of confidence. If they feel a little bit of pressure, then they tend to optimize across all parts of their budget. There are some things that are sacrosanct such as medical and education [expenses]. In the case of oral care, it is management of consumption; it's not through smaller pack sizes or cheaper packs," she told Mint in an interview in the capital. The Indian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry reported 11% year-on-year value growth in the March quarter, driven by a 5.1% volume increase and a 5.6% price hike, according to data released by NielsenIQ. Also read: Govt may relax registration rules for e-commerce players, traders unhappy Urban market growth decelerated in the March quarter, while rural markets saw an 8.4% volume increase, a slight dip from the December quarter. Other large packaged goods companies such as Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd, the maker of Whisper, Vicks and Old Spice, gave similar commentary earlier this month. The company reported a steady revival in rural consumption, even as urban demand remains under pressure. The home and personal care category, where Colgate Palmolive operates, saw consumption growth of 5.7% in the March quarter, with higher demand in rural areas, NielsenIQ noted. The company competes with Dabur India and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Oral care penetration Meanwhile, the maker of Colgate toothpaste and Palmolive body wash continues to increase the usage of oral care products in India. 'We would like to move the needle as far as urban India is concerned—to get the 80% of consumers who don't brush twice a day to brush twice a day. As far as rural India is concerned, the aim is to get the one in two consumers who don't brush daily to brush daily," she said. A decade ago, oral care penetration in India was around 85%. Today, it's close to universal. The company has also been pushing its flagship Oral Health Movement. Also read: P&G Hygiene sees rebound in rural demand, but urban stress persists As part of the same, over 4.5 million Indians screened their oral health in 700 districts. The company spent 14% of its FY25 annual sales on advertising. Narasimhan said the number will remain in the ballpark and within that range in the current fiscal, too. Meanwhile, commenting on global geopolitical volatility, Narasimhan said the company is largely insulated from supply chain disruptions. 'We are a largely 'make in India' for India company, so almost our entire production of both toothpaste and toothbrush is in India across our four plants. We are reasonably self-sufficient in that sense. We've tried very hard to localize, even to source raw materials; to that extent, one is a little bit insulated from all of this. The macro environment has become so volatile that it's just impossible to comment on and it's impossible for us to do anything other than to insulate on a more structural basis as we have done and continue to do," she added.
