Pranjali Awasthi Height, Age, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Pranjali Awasthi

• Pranjali Awasthi is an Indian entrepreneur who came into the news for raising $450,000 (Rs 3.7 crore) for her AI startup, Delv.AI at the age of 16 years.

• She moved to Florida, USA with her family when she was just 11 years old. Her father taught her coding when she was just 7 years old. At the age of 13 years, she even joined Florida International University as an intern.

• Her major inspiration comes from her father who inspired her to choose computer science and who believes that it should be a part of the school curriculum.

• Because of the pandemic, her school became completely online which allowed her to spare time for working as an intern for 20 hours a week in Schwartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, a part of the Institute of Neural Computation at the University of California San Diego.

• During her research internship, Pranjali recognized the growing challenges in pinpointing precise information on search engines. This insight inspired her to explore the potential of AI in addressing this issue. Consequently, she founded Delv.AI, a company dedicated to aiding researchers in effortlessly retrieving specific information from the growing digital world.

• In 2020, upon the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3 beta, Pranjali discerned its capacity to advance and streamline research data extraction and summarization. Even though Delv.AI was in its nascent phase, she was determined enough to create a company that promoted machine learning to harvest data and eliminate data silos.

• In 2021, Pranjali participated in Miami Hack Week, where she crossed paths with Lucy Guo and Dave Fontenot, partners at Backend Capital. The pair had also initiated the HF0 residency, a co-living startup accelerator with locations in San Francisco and Miami.
  

  Pranjali at Hackerfellow

• In return for a share in her prospective business, she earned a spot in HFo’s 12-week program starting in September. Encouraged by her parents, who recognized the immense value of the networking opportunities it offered, she decided to temporarily pause her high school education. Her transportation to and from the residence was taken care of with Uber rides.

• Pranjali secured a spot in the September 2021 HF0 residency, during which she debuted her product, Delv.AI. Her role was to look after performing searches, extract data, and compiling literature reviews.

• One of the standout moments during her residency was the debut of Delv.AI’s beta version on Product Hunt, which happened to be on the day of her 15th birthday. Her product rose to the third spot among the most highly sought-after products of the day.

• Her journey at HF0 ended when she received her first investment from On Deck and Village Global. This seed money, obtained in early 2022, allowed her to bring on board her first engineering team and begin the development of a minimum-viable product.

• During her fellowship, Pranjali made strong connections within the A.I. community. Further strengthened by her successful Product Hunt debut, these relationships became instrumental in later fundraising events. Ultimately, she succeeded in raising $450,000 from a mix of funds and angel investors, including Lucy Guo and Village Global, elevating her company’s valuation to approximately $12 million. ^[3]Business Insider

• From her early days in India, Pranjali’s passion for social entrepreneurship was established. While visiting her grandfather, a farmer, she saw his efforts in mentoring village youngsters to sharpen their artisanal talents. She remembers the handmade fashion artifacts they produced, which were both stylish and contemporary. Sensing their global appeal and disapproving of intermediaries who often took significant profits, leaving the artisans with minimal returns, she envisioned selling them directly. This led her to create ‘Indic Valley’, a digital platform dedicated to these handcrafted masterpieces. Through this platform, Pranjali aspires to uplift these artisans by ensuring they have autonomy and ownership of their creations.

• Even in the face of challenges due to the pandemic, Pranjali managed to get external funding. Thus, she was able to successfully onboard a batch of around 30 artisans to her platform, fine-tune the company’s infrastructure, and address logistical nuances. Indic Valley showcases a collection of sustainable, handcrafted wooden bangles, shawls, footwear, and other items, all rooted in the essence of India’s rural communities.
  

  Pranjali in conversation with the artisans in India

• Due to her Indian background, there was a strong emphasis on academics within her family. While she considered obtaining a GED, she found a middle ground by fulfilling her high school credit requirements online. She successfully finished her high school education in June 2023. Her parents were supportive of her choice to postpone college for now, allowing her to maintain her focus on her business.

• Pranjali has served as a keynote speaker at numerous events, such as Rising 2021: Women in AI, where she encouraged young individuals to consider pursuing careers in AI. Additionally, she delivered a presentation on the topic of Machine Learning in Modern Healthcare at the AI Summit in New York.
  

  A hoarding of Pranjali as a spokesperson

• She said that she might consider the possibility of attending college later in life to learn new business skills like law and psychology. ^[4]Hindustan Times

• Prajali’s influence led to her former high school dedicating an entire building to cater to AI enthusiasts interested in Blockchain learning and Cyber Security courses.
  

  Pranjali’s tweet about her old high school