India, April 20 -- Y Combinator general partner Jared Friedman recently praised Varun Vummadi, calling his venture one of the "first great AI companies to come out of India".

Vummadi is the co-founder and CEO of Giga, a San Francisco-based startup that builds voice-based AI agents for businesses. Founded in 2023 with Esha Manideep, the company raised $61 million in a Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures last year.

"Esha and I started Giga in our college dorm. At first, I just wanted to start a company with my best friend," Vummadi said on the company's website. Both Vummadi and Manideep are graduates of IIT Kharagpur.

Speaking at Y Combinator's Startup School India event in Bengaluru Saturday, Vummadi shared more about his journey....