30 Indian Minds Leading the AI Revolution

Anindya Das and Sharad Sanghi's Neysa: Democratising AI adoption for enterprises

With Neysa, Sharad Sanghi and Anindya Das are helping businesses discover, deploy, and scale generative AI and AI use cases securely and cost-effectively

By Anubhuti Matta Forbes India Staff

Published: Jun 20, 2025 04:02:36 PM IST

Updated: Jun 20, 2025 04:06:39 PM IST

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Sharad Sanghi, co-founder and CEO, Neysaw Image: Mexy Xavier

In a rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence (AI), the focus often remains on flashy applications. However, behind every invention is a strong and invisible backbone—infrastructure. Sharad Sanghi and Anindya Das are working in this space with their new-age acceleration cloud startup Neysa, founded in 2023 with a single aim—democratising AI adoption for enterprises through purpose-built platforms and infrastructure.

Sanghi and Das share a 21-year working relationship that began at Netmagic, one of India’s earliest and most successful data centre ventures. Sanghi founded Netmagic in 1998, and Das played a key role in expanding its cloud and network footprint. The company was acquired by NTT Communications in 2012.

Neysa builds on that legacy with a cloud-first approach to AI—offering organisations a complete suite of solutions to build, deploy, infer and scale AI and GenAI securely and cost-effectively. Neysa’s offerings—Neysa Velocis, Neysa Overwatch and Neysa Aegis—accelerate AI adoption, improve network performance and protect AI/machine learning systems, respectively. In short, Neysa is building towards overcoming barriers like fragmented tools, unpredictable costs, limited observability, and poor access to GPUs by offering a cohesive, production-grade system designed for teams building AI at scale.

“We realised early on that while AI conversations were everywhere, there were massive execution gaps,” says Sanghi. “GPU shortages, complex tooling and high costs were holding businesses back. We built Neysa to bridge that gap and make AI usable and accessible, not just powerful,” he adds.

Today, Neysa is working with over 20 customers and pilots in India and global markets, spanning the financial services, health care and media sectors. The company has raised $53 million from investors, including Nexus Venture Partners, Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India) and NTTVC, along with strategic contributions from Sanghi and other industry leaders.

Sanghi estimates that India’s AI market growth will triple to $22 billion by 2027, with sectors such as BFSI, health care, government, research and manufacturing leading the adoption of AI. He notes that while India has a growing base of 4.5 lakh-plus professionals, infrastructure and localised innovation remain critical gaps. That’s where Neysa’s initiatives like BharatGen come in, where researchers are building large language models in Indian languages to advance India’s AI ambitions.

However, barriers persist, including the need for scalable infrastructure, broader talent access and a national commitment to building foundational IP.

“We must ask ourselves why so few AI patents come from India. It’s time to change that,” Sanghi says.

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On the enterprise side, Neysa’s platforms are helping leading organisations deploy AI use cases in the cloud at significantly lower costs than global hyperscalers, with no vendor lock-in and more control over compute consumption.

These approaches set Neysa apart in a crowded space dominated by global hyperscalers, according to Sanghi. “We’re not just selling compute—we’re selling outcomes,” he says. “Our goal is to be the AI acceleration cloud system of choice for businesses serious about scaling AI.”

Also read: Rafee Tarafdar: Transforming Infosys into AI-first company

In the coming times, there will be two kinds of organisations—those that use AI pervasively and those that fall behind. The difference will not just be about productivity, but standing tall among competition. Therefore, for Sanghi and Das, Neysa wants to make AI simpler, faster and more accessible—without the overhead of building everything from scratch.

“AI is evolving too quickly for companies to do it all in-house. If we can absorb that complexity and offer the latest tools as-a-service, we enable customers to focus on impact,” Sanghi adds.

In the next 12 to 18 months, Neysa aims to expand into international markets, deepen product capabilities and co-create sector-specific AI solutions in partnership with ecosystem players. “Our vision is to be the go-to AI cloud platform—not just for India, but for the world,” says Sanghi.

With a client-first approach, his peers think he is not far from his goals. “He (Sanghi) has a very deep understanding of state-of-the-art technology, particularly as it relates to AI, data centres, networking, and cloud infrastructure. He has built very strong technical teams to address the critical issues needed to deliver the latest technology to clients,” says Sandeep Singhal, senior advisor at Avaana Capital, and an investor in Netmagic and Neysa. “He goes out of his way on client servicing, has very high ethical standards, strong personal values, and expects his team and partners to exhibit the same,” he adds.

On the personal front, the goal is to keep all stakeholders—clients, employees, and investors—satisfied. “That’s when you know you’re building something meaningful,” he says.

(This story appears in the 13 June, 2025 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)