Vishal Sikka, the former CEO of Infosys who has decades of experience building enterprise software, has founded Hang Ten Systems, a startup that aims to let AI handle much of the work involved in building, modifying and operating corporate software.
Funding and investors
Hang Ten announced on Wednesday that it has raised a $32 million seed round led by Mayfield. The round includes a strategic investment from Aramco Ventures and participation from angel investors. The company said its board includes Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
What Hang Ten offers
The startup says it enables enterprises to continuously build, modify and operate software using AI-driven development and automation. Hang Ten describes itself as an AI-native enterprise services company focused on agentic code generation, reusable AI skills and domain expertise.
The company said it is already working with customers such as Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius.
Team and background
Hang Ten’s early team includes executives who have worked with Sikka over the years at SAP, Infosys and his previous venture, VianAI. Named co-founders include Navin Budhiraja (CTO), Sanjay Rajagopalan (chief design officer) and Tao Liu (senior vice president of forward deployed engineering).
Sikka stepped down as Infosys’ chief executive in 2017 and later founded VianAI, which emerged from stealth in 2019 with $50 million in seed funding and subsequently raised $140 million in a 2021 round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha told TechCrunch that Hang Ten “just got started a month back” and already has customers. Chaddha characterized Hang Ten as distinct from VianAI: VianAI focused on enterprise AI applications and analytics, whereas Hang Ten is built around AI-native services and code generation.
Market context and debate
Hang Ten enters a market where legacy IT services firms, including Infosys, are racing to integrate AI through partnerships with companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. The startup’s launch comes amid debate over whether AI will expand the industry’s addressable market or fundamentally change how enterprise software is built, maintained and delivered.
Analysts at Jefferies argued earlier this year that IT services may be among the first sectors to face meaningful AI disruption. Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani this week said AI could expand the industry’s addressable market. Infosys has told investors that “AI-first services” could represent a $300 billion to $400 billion market by 2030. At the same time, Infosys shares have fallen more than 35% this year.
Plans and hiring
Headquartered in the Bay Area, Hang Ten told TechCrunch it is hiring across delivery, engineering, sales and leadership roles and plans to expand into multiple locations globally to meet enterprise demand.
Mayfield said it backed Hang Ten because of Sikka’s track record and the belief that an AI-native model can scale differently from traditional services firms. “Traditional services scale linearly with headcount,” Mayfield said. “Hang Ten is built so its leverage grows with every project.”
Why this matters
The company’s early funding and customer roster indicate investor and enterprise interest in AI-driven service models. The coming months and years will show whether startups like Hang Ten can reshape the economics and operating model of IT services or whether they will mainly augment existing providers.
Key facts (summary)
- Seed funding: $32 million, led by Mayfield, strategic investor Aramco Ventures, plus angel investors.
- Early customers include Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius.
- Leadership and founding team include veterans from SAP, Infosys and VianAI.
- VianAI prior fundraising: $50 million seed; $140 million in 2021 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
- Infosys projects “AI-first services” could represent a $300–$400 billion market by 2030; Infosys shares are down over 35% this year.
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