As voice-based interactions become increasingly important in customer engagement, businesses are looking for AI solutions that can communicate naturally across languages and regions. However, in a country as linguistically diverse as India, building conversational AI that understands and responds seamlessly in multiple languages remains a significant challenge.

Addressing this gap is Bolna AI, a startup focused on creating multilingual voice AI infrastructure that enables businesses to automate conversations while maintaining natural and context-aware interactions.

In an exclusive conversation with Indian Startup Times (IST), Prateek Sachan, Founder of Bolna AI, shared his entrepreneurial journey, the inspiration behind the company, the challenges of building voice AI for India, and the vision driving the platform forward.

From IIT Delhi to Building AI Products

Prateek Sachan’s entrepreneurial journey began long before the rise of generative AI. Originally from Lucknow, he pursued his education at IIT Delhi and later gained valuable experience working with some of India’s most successful technology companies, including Zomato and BrowserStack.

His exposure to startups and product development sparked a deep interest in emerging technologies. When large language models (LLMs) started gaining momentum in 2023, Prateek saw an opportunity to build something meaningful in the voice AI space.

“I was fascinated by how AI could transform communication. We started experimenting with voice AI and quickly realized that there was a massive opportunity to build an API-first platform enabling users to leverage Voice AI quickly,” he said.

Solving India’s Multilingual Communication Challenge

One of the biggest insights that led to the creation of Bolna AI was the realization that most existing voice AI systems struggled with India’s multilingual reality.

Unlike many global markets, Indian consumers frequently switch between English, Hindi and regional languages within the same conversation. Traditional voice bots often fail to handle these transitions naturally, leading to poor user experiences.

Prateek explained that Bolna was designed specifically to address this challenge.

“We wanted to create a platform that could automatically adapt to multilingual conversations without disrupting the flow of communication,” he said.

Building this capability required significant technological innovation, as the team had to ensure smooth language switching while maintaining conversational accuracy and low latency.

According to Prateek, solving multilingual voice interactions in India will automatically enable other markets across the world as well.

Building a Flexible AI Infrastructure

Rather than relying on a single AI model, Bolna AI adopts a flexible architecture that utilizes different models depending on the task at hand.

Prateek explained that various large language models, including GPT and Claude, are used strategically based on their strengths, costs and latencies. Certain models perform better for reasoning tasks, while others are more suitable for customer conversations or specialized workflows.

The platform intelligently routes requests to the most appropriate model, helping businesses achieve higher efficiency and better outcomes.

This model-agnostic approach enables Bolna AI to continuously integrate advancements from the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem while delivering optimal performance to customers.

Driving Adoption Across Industries

Today, Bolna AI serves businesses across multiple sectors, including BFSI, D2C brands, logistics, customer support, and lead qualification.

The platform’s horizontal nature allows organizations from different industries to build and deploy voice agents tailored to their specific requirements.

Prateek noted that every sector comes with unique challenges, requiring deep customization and understanding of customer workflows.

“Our focus is always on solving real business problems rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution,” he explained.

This adaptability has become one of the platform’s key strengths as conversational AI adoption continues to expand.

Helping Businesses Understand Their Customers Better

One of Bolna AI’s notable success stories involves Varun Beverages.

By implementing Bolna AI’s voice automation platform, the company was able to establish structured customer interactions and gather valuable insights directly from consumers.

The feedback helped improve operational processes and contributed to better product development decisions.

For Prateek, this represents the true value of conversational AI.

“Voice AI isn’t just about automation. It’s about helping businesses build stronger connections with their customers while improving efficiency,” he said.

Building Trust Through Compliance and Security

As AI adoption increases, concerns around privacy, compliance, and data security continue to grow.

Prateek emphasized that maintaining customer trust is a core priority for Bolna AI.

The company has implemented automated testing frameworks, compliance guardrails, and monitoring systems to ensure AI agents operate within predefined guidelines and customer-approved scripts.

These measures help organizations maintain control over customer interactions while ensuring security and regulatory compliance.

According to Prateek, trust will remain a critical factor in the long-term adoption of AI-first customer communication.

The Fundraising Journey

Bolna AI’s growth has also attracted investor interest. Prateek shared that the company’s participation in Y Combinator and its strong traction in the market played an important role in its fundraising journey.

He highlighted that revenue growth, product usage, and customer adoption were key factors that strengthened investor confidence.

However, he believes fundraising should support business growth rather than define it.

“We are focused on building value for customers. If fundraising opportunities align with our growth strategy, we remain open to them, but our primary focus is execution,” he said.

Measuring Success Beyond Revenue

While revenue remains an important metric, Bolna AI evaluates success through several operational indicators.

The company closely monitors automation efficiency, call completion rates, customer satisfaction, and overall platform performance.

These metrics are shared transparently with customers to help them understand the effectiveness of their Voice AI agents and identify areas for improvement.

The company’s usage-based business model also ensures that organizations of different sizes can access and benefit from voice AI technology.

The Future of Conversational AI

Looking ahead, Prateek believes the conversational AI industry is still in its early stages, with significant opportunities for innovation.

Bolna AI is actively exploring advancements in large language models, agent optimization, and multilingual intelligence.

The company is also developing new capabilities, including A/B testing tools and self-improving agents that will allow businesses to experiment with different conversational workflows and improve agent performance more effectively.

As AI technology evolves, Prateek sees enormous potential for creating more intelligent, reliable, and scalable voice experiences.

A Vision to Democratize Voice AI

At its core, Bolna AI’s mission is simple: make voice AI accessible and easy to deploy for everyone.

Prateek envisions a future where businesses can integrate and build sophisticated voice agent workflows without worrying about the underlying complexities of AI infrastructure, language models, or multilingual adaptation.

“Our goal is to make voice AI as simple and accessible as possible so that anyone can build and deploy high-quality conversational experiences,” he said.

By combining multilingual intelligence, scalable infrastructure, and a strong focus on customer outcomes, Bolna AI is positioning itself as a key player in the future of conversational AI—both in India and beyond.

Interview By: Arushi Agarwal