In a world where artificial intelligence often relies on oceans of data, a young startup is daring to chart a different course. Gibran, a Bengaluru-based AI research startup, has secured $2.6 million in seed funding, backed by the Together Fund — co-founded by startup veterans Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks) and Manav Garg (Eka Software).
The fresh capital will fuel Gibran’s mission to build a new kind of intelligence — one that doesn’t depend on big data. Instead, the startup is developing foundational AI models that can thrive on small datasets, an innovation poised to transform industries like drug discovery, where limited data is the norm due to small patient populations and high regulatory constraints.
Founded by Govind Balakrishnan and Srikant Chakravarti, Gibran stands at the crossroads of science, creativity, and computation. The duo — both seasoned in tech and research — are steering the company toward a bold vision: merging large language models (LLMs) with systems inspired by nature’s way of solving problems.
“We’re trying to build an AI that thinks like a scientist or an artist — not just by memorizing the world, but by recombining ideas in ways that feel truly original,” says Balakrishnan.
This approach has far-reaching implications. Beyond drug discovery, Gibran sees opportunities in scientific hypothesis generation, filmmaking, design, and even education — all domains where novelty and insight matter more than sheer data volume.
Unlike traditional AI players, Gibran isn’t selling just software. It operates on a research-and-platform licensing model, creating proprietary tools that clients across life sciences, media, and education can use to accelerate innovation.
With AI rapidly reshaping every corner of the economy, Gibran’s humanistic and nature-inspired approach offers a refreshing take — one that values insight over scale, and curiosity over conformity.
As the startup sets out to redefine intelligence itself, all eyes will be on how this small team with a big vision rewrites the rules of the AI game.
By-Priyanka Chatterjee
