Peak XV MD: Sarvam AI launch in Delhi summit drew more people than all of Paris AI summit 2025

A picture of the attendees at the launch of Sarvam AI's new models at AI Impact Summit in Delhi, shared by Peak XV Partners managing director Rajan Anandan.

Peak XV Partners managing director Rajan Anandan on Wednesday said the crowd at the Sarvam AI launch at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 surpassed the entire attendance of the AI Summit held in Paris in 2025.

“Fun fact: the number of attendees at the Sarvam AI launch at the India AI Impact Summit is higher than the total number of attendees at the entire AI Summit in Paris in 2025!” he wrote on X.

Bengaluru-based AI startup, Sarvam AI, is backed by Peak XV and Lightspeed. It recently launched new AI models that are strong enough to outperform competitors like DeepSeek R1 and Gemini Flash on key benchmarks.

Reactions: Population jokes and pride in Indian AI

Although it has emerged as a leading force in India’s sovereign AI efforts, most netizens in the comments section of Anandan's post, attributed the large turnout at the launch to India's population. The responses were a mix of humour, sarcasm and nationalism.

“We have a population of 150 crore, they will end up going somewhere," wrote an X user. Another added, “This is true for lines outside washrooms, bus stands, railway stations too. India has more population than France.”

Others credited the success of the event to the country’s momentum in AI. “Paris had the vibes, Delhi brought the numbers," said a user, while another added: “India needs many more Sarvams and fast. Sarvam AI’s success will enable that.”

For many, the turnout was seen as a “proud moment for Indian AI” and evidence of the excitement around homegrown companies like Sarvam.

The India AI Impact Summit, held in New Delhi from February 16–20, has been billed as one of the largest global AI convenings, with more than 840 exhibitors, participation from over 100 countries and 500+ events across the week.

Sarvam AI received about Rs 99 crore in subsidies

Founded in July 2023 by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, who previously worked at Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani-backed AI4Bharat, Sarvam develops a full-stack offering for Generative AI, ranging from research-led innovations in training custom AI models to an enterprise-grade platform for authoring and deployment.

The Bengaluru-based AI startup is the biggest winner to date of IndiaAI Mission, having bagged a record 4,096 NVIDIA H100 SXM GPUs via Yotta Data Services, receiving nearly Rs 99 crore in subsidies.

Sarvam AI was earlier announced as the first startup selected to build India’s foundational AI model under the mission.