AI Startup Hang Ten Systems Raises Another $53 Million

    Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka has raised another $53 million (about 90.1 million manats) for Hang Ten Systems, the artificial intelligence (AI) startup he founded in May. The investment round closed just 5 weeks after an initial investment of $32 million (about 54.4 million manats). The latest investment brings the startup's total funding to $85 million (about 144.5 million manats).    The new round was led by Xora, Temasek's platform for investing in early-stage startups. Mayfield, the lead investor in the previous round, also invested again. Other investors include Aramco Ventures, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.    Hang Ten Systems wants to use AI to transform how large companies develop software and upgrade their existing systems. The startup primarily advises companies with annual revenue exceeding $10 billion (about 17 billion manats) on AI strategy. According to Vishal Sikka, the time and cost spent writing code are approaching zero. As a result, the main focus is shifting to correctly determining what is required of the software and testing the finished system.    The startup signed a multimillion-dollar contract to develop a critical software system just 25 days after its first meeting with one of its customers. Counting its current customers and companies with which it is close to signing contracts, Hang Ten Systems works with 21 large enterprises. The startup has already signed several contracts worth millions of dollars. Negotiations are also underway on projects worth tens of millions of dollars. Its customers include Fresenius Kabi, Saudi Aramco and Siemens Energy.    The company will use the new funding to expand its engineering, consulting and sales teams. The Palo Alto-based startup has a total of 20-25 employees across the United States, the Middle East and Australia. It also plans to hire new employees in Europe and India. Its technical work uses an internal platform called Hobie. The platform combines reusable AI tools developed for highly regulated industries and complex projects.    According to Hang Ten Systems, some projects that previously required 30 people can now be handled by a team of 2-4 people. The final quality review and certification are carried out by the customer or an independent partner. The company promises a 10-fold improvement in reducing costs, accelerating work or both. Sikka said the startup received serious acquisition offers from large companies during its first 4 months. However, he has rejected those offers for now because he wants to grow the business.