Tala Health raises $100 million seed round, as Ritankar Das seeks to build a holding company for the AI era

Ritankar Das wants the holding company to make its comeback.

“For the 20th century and for much of human history, [holding companies] were how things worked,” said Das, founder of AI-focused holding company Titan Holdings. “That’s how you got your railroads to work, in conjunction with other types of industries that were adjacent.” While such conglomerates exist today (like Koch Industries or Danaher), you don’t necessarily see new ones being formed, Das adds.

However one feels about Koch or the “robber barons,” it struck me that Das has a point: In the thousands of pitches I’ve received, I don’t know if anyone has ever come to me saying “here’s my new holding company.” However, a holding company—a business structure whose purpose it is to hold interests in other businesses—is a model