Astra, a Bengaluru-based startup developing AI-powered sales workflow automation tools, has officially shut down operations. The news was confirmed by co-founder and CEO Supreet Hegde in a LinkedIn post, where he cited internal disagreements with co-founder Ranjan Rajagopalan over the pace of the company’s growth as the primary reason for the closure.
Founded by IIT-Madras alumni, Astra set out to automate up to 80% of account executive tasks and improve deal execution for enterprise sales teams using AI agents. The platform aimed to streamline interactions with enterprise tools like Salesforce, Slack, and Google Drive, promising significant productivity gains for B2B sales teams.
Despite onboarding two enterprise clients during its beta testing phase, Astra struggled to convert early traction into long-term growth. Key hurdles included:
Lengthy enterprise sales cycles
Resistance from companies over granting data access to critical internal systems
Confusion and saturation in the emerging AI agent space
The startup received early backing from Aravind Srinivas, the founder of Perplexity AI, who joined as an angel investor in March 2025.
Astra’s founding team brought strong credentials:
Supreet Hegde, former VP of Global Business Development at HyperVerge
Ranjan Rajagopalan, an ex-Googler and product leader at Proshort
While Hegde has not announced his next move, Rajagopalan is reportedly working on a new stealth-mode venture.
Astra’s closure highlights the growing challenges AI startups face in building trust with enterprise customers and delivering tangible value quickly in a crowded and fast-evolving market.
