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In today’s newsletter: 

• Mukesh Ambani unveils Reliance Intelligence
• Elevation’s $400 mn fund for late-stage bets
• AI agents power SaaS sales

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Reliance is placing a big bet on AI for its future growth, along with its powerful global allies.

Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman Mukesh Ambani, at the company’s 48th AGM, unveiled a slew of AI-related initiatives, supported by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg.

• Mukesh Ambani incorporated Reliance Intelligence, a new wholly owned unit to drive artificial intelligence in India

Remember, Ambani had famously stated that "data is the new oil", and he has walked the talk, considering the underlying power behind AI is data.

The oil-to-retail major also announced a $100 million joint venture with Facebook parent Meta to develop AI solutions for Indian enterprises and select international markets.

• In yet another big tech partnership, RIL is expanding its partnership with Google Cloud to establish a state-of-the-art, AI-focused cloud region in Jamnagar

Interestingly, both the Big Tech companies have existing partnerships with Reliance and hold a stake in Jio.

In a major pivot, Reliance announced plans to transform itself into a deep-tech and new energy powerhouse to drive growth and expansion.

• The Chairman announced that Reliance has invested in humanoid robotics, calling it an 'exciting frontier for AI'

Reliance also aims to create new types of industries, services, agricultural opportunities, and jobs.

The company also announced building gigawatt-scale and AI-ready data centres in Jamnagar.

• Forging alliances with leading technology firms and open-source communities
  
  
• Rolling out AI services across education, health, agriculture, and small business sectors

And by doing so, Reliance will attract world-class AI talent to India.

More from our Reliance AGM coverage

• Green fuels and AI-based solutions to become long-term growth engines for RIL
  
  
• Mukesh Ambani says AI, clean energy and genomics will shape India’s ‘golden age’
  
  
• Akash Ambani unveils JioPC: ‘Turn your TV or any screen into AI-ready computer’
  
  
• Jio launches JioFrames, an AI-powered wearable platform built for India

Click here for complete coverage

Early-stage venture capital firm Elevation Capital is rewriting its playbook. 

After two decades of backing startups from Seed to Series A, the firm has launched a $400 million late-stage fund.

• Elevation Holdings will cut cheques of $20–50 million into firms that are gearing up for public listings

Unlike hedge funds and mutual funds, which rotate in and out, Elevation says it wants to stay long-term, even after listing.

Co-managing partner Mukul Arora told us in an interview that India still has decades of economic and per-capita income growth ahead of it.

“Some new-age companies will compound like HDFC, Asian Paints, Titan and others. Most importantly, many of the new-age companies are still run by fairly young, very ambitious founders," Arora said.

Despite making moves to try a new style of investing, the VC fund’s Partners said the move should only be seen as an evolution of the ecosystem and not, in any way, a change in Elevation’s DNA.

Elevation has already dipped its toes, joining Spinny’s $170 million raise earlier this year. 

Elevation Capital will aim to do just 2-4 deals a year via Elevation Holdings.

“We are aiming to be very, very selective with this fund, and hopefully be able to pick the right ones to partner with, pick the right ones to deliver very attractive returns,”   Mridul Arora, Partner, Elevation Capital, said.

Dig deeper

What once took months for SaaS companies to close is now wrapping up in weeks, all thanks to AI copilots speeding up deals! 

A US-based firm that once needed a three-month trial to evaluate a SaaS product signed up in just four weeks after watching an AI agent auto-resolve tickets during a demo. That’s the new playbook for Indian SaaS.

AI agents are no longer just add-ons, they’re becoming the core of SaaS.

• Startups like SuperOps are deploying AI-driven ticket resolution and predictive insights, helping managed service providers cut costs and scale faster
  
  
• Exotel has built conversational AI agents into its communication stack to automate customer support and sales
  
  
• Meanwhile LeadSquared, Freshworks, and Zoho are steadily infusing their platforms with copilots and assistants

Instead of just automating routine workflows, AI agents can now diagnose, recommend, and even execute fixes, freeing up engineers and accelerating deal closures. 

“AI is no longer a nice-to-have demo slide, it’s part of the core evaluation criteria," Said Arvind Parthiban, Cofounder and CEO of SuperOps. 

Interestingly, this adoption isn’t limited to global enterprises. 

• Even mid-market firms in smaller towns are leapfrogging traditional SaaS and going agent-first, drawn by the promise of doing more with leaner teams
  
  
• Exotel’s cofounder Sachin Bhatia said pilots today are proving “2x, 3x, even 4x ROI” within short timeframes, fueling rapid cross-sell into analytics and personalization

Still, challenges around trust, explainability, and unit economics remain. 

Dig deeper

• China's Alibaba has developed a new chip that is more versatile than its older chips and is meant to serve a broader range of AI inference tasks.
  
  
• China said it will prevent excess competition in the AI sector, a signal that Beijing wants to avoid wasteful investment even as it seeks to turn the technology into a key pillar of the economy.

From Kashmir’s songs to metro’s chaos, your weekend binge has it all.

Watch Songs of Paradise, a tribute to Padma Shree Raj Begum, the voice that changed Kashmir’s music forever. Watch it on Amazon Prime Video

In the mood for a love ride? 

Metro In Dino takes you across four cities, with four couples juggling romance, chaos, and commitment. Watch it on Netflix

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