Pranjali Awasthi is an Indian entrepreneur best known for raising $450,000 (Rs 3.7 crore) for his artificial intelligence startup Delv.AI at the age of 16.
Wiki/Biography
Pranjali Awasthi was born in India in 2007 (age 16 in 2023). She started learning to code when she was seven years old. At age 13, she began interning at a university research laboratory at the Florida University of Physicians. While working on machine learning projects, she simultaneously attended Doral Academy Charter High School, majoring in linear algebra and calculus.
appearance
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Her father is an engineer.
husband and children
Pranjali is not married yet.
Profession
Pranjali Awasthi, 16, started her company while interning in a university research lab. She was accepted into the HF0 residency program in September 2021, where she launched her product. Her responsibilities include conducting searches, data extraction, and writing literature reviews. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT-3 beta in 2020, she recognized its potential to facilitate and enhance research data extraction and summarization. Although Delv.AI is still in its infancy, she is determined to launch a company that uses machine learning to extract data and eliminate data silos. Her tenure at HF0 ended when she received her first investments from On Deck and Village Global. Seed funding received in early 2022 allowed her to recruit her first engineers and start developing a minimum viable product. During her research, she was able to build strong connections within the artificial intelligence community. Additionally, these connections proved invaluable in subsequent fundraising efforts as a result of her successful Product Hunt launch. She successfully raised $450,000 from funds and angel investors including LucyGuo and Village Global, valuing her at approximately $12 million.
social entrepreneurship
Pranjali’s passion for social entrepreneurship began during her childhood in India. On visits to her farmer grandfather, she would see him mentoring village children in developing their craft skills. She recalls their handcrafted fashion pieces as chic and stylish. Recognizing their global appeal, she plans to sell them without the intervention of middlemen, who often take a hefty cut, leaving the creators with a small income. This inspired her to set up ‘Valley of India’, an online portal showcasing these artefacts. Pranjali aims to empower these artisans by giving them ownership and control over the work on this platform.
Pranjali talks with Indian artisans
Although the pandemic has exacerbated challenges, she has still managed to secure outside investment. With these funds, she was able to gather around 30 craftsmen for her site, streamline the company’s framework, and solve logistical problems. Indian Valley showcases a range of eco-friendly, handcrafted wooden bangles, shawls, footwear and more, all sourced from the heart of Indian villages.
Awards and Achievements
Associate Member – Awarded by the Mason Foundation (June 2023)
IEEE 2022 Rising Stars – Awarded by the IEEE Canadian Young Professionals Committee (November 2021)
HF0 Fellow – Awarded by Backend Capital (September 2021)
AIME Qualifying Competition – awarded by the American Mathematical Association (February 2021)
Favorites
- Indian snacks: Parle G, Momos
Facts/Trivia
- Pranjali has always looked up to her father, who believed that computer science should be included in the school curriculum along with other basic subjects. His passion for the subject inspired her to start learning programming at the age of seven.
- The school’s shift to virtual learning during the coronavirus pandemic allowed her to accept an internship. She puts in about 20 hours a week at the Schwartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, part of UC San Diego’s Institute for Neural Computation.
- During her research internship, Pranjali realized that it was becoming increasingly difficult to identify specific information on search engines. This realization prompted her to think about how artificial intelligence could eliminate this challenge. This eventually gave birth to her company Delv.AI. Delv.AI’s primary mission is to help researchers easily access specific details in the vastness of online content.
- In 2021, Pranjali participated in Miami Hacker Week, where she met LucyGuo and DaveFontenot, partners at Backend Capital. The two also founded HF0 Residency, a home-based startup accelerator located in San Francisco and Miami.
Pranjali in Hackerfellow
- She won a place on the 12-week program in September in exchange for a small stake in her future business. Her parents believed it would provide valuable social opportunities, and after taking their advice, she dropped out of high school. While hospitalized, she was able to commute to her residence via Uber every day.
- A highlight of her residency was launching the beta version of Delv.AI on Product Hunt, which also coincided with her 15th birthday. Her products have climbed to become the third most popular product today.
- Her Indian heritage meant academics were a top priority for the family. Although she considered pursuing a GED, she compromised by completing her high school credits online. She will complete her studies in June 2023. Her parents supported her decision to skip college for now to focus on her career.
- Pranjali has been a speaker at many events such as Rising 2021: Women in AI, where she spoke about how to inspire young people to build a career in AI. She also spoke at the New York Artificial Intelligence Summit on machine learning in modern healthcare.
Hoarding Pranjali as spokesperson
- She said she might consider going to college later to study new business skills such as law and psychology.
- She scored brilliantly in competitive exams. She scored a 35 on the 2022 ACT and a 5 on the 2022 ACT.
- Her classmates and team members call her “P.”
- Her hobbies include playing piano and badminton.
- Inspired by Prajali, her old high school dedicated an entire building to blockchain learning and cybersecurity classes for AI enthusiasts.
Pranjali’s tweets about her old high school
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education