Who is Varun Vummadi? IIT grad who rejected Stanford PhD and raised $61M startup

In 2023, while many 20-somethings from India’s top engineering colleges were lining up for global PhDs and seven-figure jobs, Varun Vummadi chose uncertainty.

Alongside his IIT Kharagpur classmate Esha Manideep, he began quietly building what would soon become Giga, an AI startup designed to transform how companies speak to their customers. It automates customer operations at scale.

Two years later, that gamble has exploded into the spotlight.

Giga has raised $61 million (Series A) from elite Silicon Valley investors including Redpoint Ventures, and already works with large enterprises like DoorDash.

Gga’s big moment has made Nara Lokesh, MLA from Andhra Pradesh, offer a “big hat tip to Varun Vummadi from from Vijayawada, AP” on X.

“Andhra Pradesh is super proud of you, Varun! " he wr