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Soket AI Labs Reviews

Bengaluru, Karnataka

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Soket AI Labs (legally incorporated as Soket Labs Technology and Research Private Limited) is an Indian deep-tech artificial intelligence research laboratory headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. Founded in 2019 by Abhishek Upperwal, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and a former data scientist, the company operates with a specialized focus on building ethical, transparent, and sovereign foundational artificial intelligence models. The laboratory positions itself as a critical player in developing frontier intelligence tailored for India and the broader Global South, intentionally moving away from generic, English-centric benchmarks. The core technical mission of Soket AI Labs revolves around the creation of multilingual foundational models and real-time speech application programming interfaces (APIs). Its flagship initiative, Project EKA, is a highly ambitious program backed by the IndiaAI Mission. Under this framework, the lab is developing a 120-billion-parameter sparse Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture designed to advance frontier mathematics, code, and logical reasoning while providing robust representation for diverse regional languages. Soket AI Labs champions an open-source approach, intending to democratize access to advanced AI technologies while reducing enterprise and governmental reliance on foreign infrastructure. Among its notable open-source releases is Pragna-1B, a 1.25-billion-parameter multilingual foundational model built from scratch in collaboration with Google Cloud, which natively supports Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, and English for natural language processing, translation, and conversational workflows. Additionally, the lab developed Dhriti, a next-generation Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) model optimized for code-switched Indian speech. Dhriti is engineered to capture distinct emotional nuances, rhythms, and intonations across regional dialects. On a commercial level, the company monetizes its technology via TensorStudio, a real-time voice agent API designed to power automated workflows in sales, marketing, and customer service. Financially, Soket AI Labs has transitioned into a venture-backed startup, securing approximately $2.2 million to $2.41 million in seed funding rounds. Additionally, the company is slated to receive substantial financial support totaling Rs 177.08 crore under the national IndiaAI Mission. The company has demonstrated scaling capabilities, growing its internal team of research engineers and AI specialists to an estimated 10 to 30 employees, while significantly scaling its operational revenue to over $1.1 million. Soket AI Labs distinguishes itself through a rigorous commitment to AI safety, sustainable development, and inclusive engineering. Its research practices prioritize energy-efficient training frameworks, climate-conscious algorithms, and high-quality data collection methodologies. By collaborating extensively with academic institutions such as IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Roorkee, the lab continues to push the boundaries of low-resource language research, building toward a future focused on ethical Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that benefits global humanity responsibly.