San Francisco, USA & Mumbai, India – August 26, 2025: Nugen Intelligence, an AI research and infrastructure company developing reliable artificial intelligence for business-critical workflows, today announced it has secured over $1 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Antler as part of its inaugural AI Disrupt cohort, with participation from prominent Silicon Valley investors. The investment includes substantial GPU credits, AI infrastructure resources, and strategic mentorship.
Solving Enterprise AI’s Trust Problem
While generative AI has captured global attention, a fundamental barrier prevents its adoption in high-stakes business environments: reliability. Current AI models, despite their impressive capabilities, lack the predictability and interpretability required for mission-critical applications in legal, financial, healthcare, and compliance workflows.
Nugen Intelligence is addressing this challenge head-on with its proprietary “Domain-Aligned AIâ„¢” architecture, which embeds reliability and interpretability measures directly into model design rather than attempting to retrofit trust mechanisms after deployment.
“The enterprise AI market is experiencing a reliability crisis,” said Aakash Patil, Co-founder and CEO of Nugen Intelligence. “Organizations want to leverage AI’s transformative potential, but they can’t afford the risks associated with unpredictable or unexplainable decisions in critical business processes. We’re building AI systems that businesses can actually trust.”
Proven Technology with Real-World Validation
Nugen’s approach has already demonstrated significant market validation. The company’s legal AI system, Court Easy AI, recently became the first artificial intelligence platform in India to pass the All India Bar Exam while providing full legal citation performance—a milestone that showcases the technology’s ability to operate reliably within highly regulated domains.
This achievement represents more than technical prowess; it demonstrates Nugen’s ability to create AI that understands and adheres to domain-specific business logic and compliance requirements, reducing the need for expensive prompt engineering or model retraining.
World-Class Founding Team
The company was founded by Aakash Patil, a deep learning expert with a Ph.D. in computational mathematics from France and former research experience at Stanford University, and Mrunmayee Shende, who brings extensive go-to-market strategy and global B2B SaaS experience across EMEA and APJ markets, with particular expertise in scaling AI products within high-compliance industries.
“Our interpretability-first approach isn’t just a technical choice—it’s a business imperative,” explained Shende. “Enterprises in regulated industries need AI systems they can explain to auditors, regulators, and stakeholders. That’s exactly what our Domain-Aligned AI technology delivers.”
Strong Market Momentum
Early market response has been encouraging, with major enterprises and AI-first companies in legal, finance, and compliance sectors engaging with Nugen for pilot programs. Initial deployments report substantial reductions in both cost and risk compared to generic large language model implementations.
The company’s technology addresses a critical gap in the enterprise AI market, where the demand for reliable, interpretable AI solutions far outstrips current supply—particularly in industries where regulatory compliance and risk management are paramount.
Investor Confidence in Foundational Innovation
Winnie Khoo, Partner at Antler and lead of the AI Disrupt program, commented: “Nugen tackles AI reliability at the architectural level—within the neural network design itself—rather than as an afterthought. This creates genuine trust and defensibility for large enterprises. We view this as foundational infrastructure for the future of business AI.”
The investment from Antler, combined with backing from Silicon Valley investors, provides Nugen with both capital and strategic support to scale its technology and expand market reach.
Scaling for Global Impact
The pre-seed funding will enable Nugen Intelligence to accelerate core research in AI interpretability and reliability while expanding its global go-to-market efforts. The company plans to build a world-class research and engineering team split between its Mumbai and San Francisco offices, with active recruitment underway for roles in deep learning research, AI infrastructure, and applied machine learning.
“We’re building the AI infrastructure that enterprises actually need, not just what’s technically possible,” Patil added. “Our goal is to make trustworthy AI accessible to any organization where decisions matter.”
The company will use the funding to deliver production-grade pilot programs for enterprise clients in sectors where reliable AI represents a competitive necessity rather than merely a technological advantage.
About Nugen Intelligence Founded in 2025, Nugen Intelligence develops Domain-Aligned AIâ„¢ technology that enables reliable, interpretable artificial intelligence for business-critical workflows. Based in Mumbai and San Francisco, the company specializes in creating AI systems that businesses can trust for high-stakes applications in legal, financial, and compliance domains.
About Antler Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology startups from Day Zero. Through its AI Disrupt program, Antler identifies and supports promising artificial intelligence companies addressing fundamental market challenges.
