Although Wispr, an AI startup aiming for a seamless voice-first future, may not have its foundational roots in India, there were signs in May 2026 that its productivity app, Wispr Flow, embraced its co-founders’ desi heritage. Advertisements announcing the arrival of the voice-to-text artificial intelligence product co-founded by Indian-origin Stanford roommates Tanay Kothari and Sahaj Garg were plastered all over Bengaluru this week.

But a viral strategy isn’t everything Kothari’s team is pursuing in India. Earlier this year, Kothari even confirmed plans to expand business operations to the Silicon Valley of India. Affirming that a Wispr Flow Bengaluru office was in the works, Kothari also pointed to the hiring process being in full swing, according to an interview with Money Control.

Indian-origin, San Francisco-based tech CEO’s app launches in India

With banners promoting the AI voice app all over the city, Bengaluru once again attained viral fame online as visuals of 100 autorickshaws and more than 20 billboards plastered with cheeky Wispr advertisements made heads turn with street-level marketing.

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In addition to the viral marketing strategy taking over Bengaluru streets and traffic, US-based co-founder and CEO Tanay Kothari proudly announced the app’s India launch on social media.

“I grew up in Delhi dreaming of building tech millions of people couldn’t live without. Today @wisprflow is officially live in India,” CEO Tanay Kothari wrote on X on April 27. Noting further that his country of origin had already become Wispr’s second-biggest market despite no prior campaigns or partnerships, he added, “People just found wispr flow organically and made it part of their daily life. The least we could do was show up for them properly.”

As disseminated by Kothari, the AI-powered voice app is now available in India with “Hinglish & Android support.” The major expansion comes merely months after the Indian-origin tech founder and CEO’s company hit the jackpot with a massive funding round that raised its valuation to over hundreds of millions of dollars.

Indian-origin CEO’s AI company hit $700m valuation just 4 years after establishment

In his bid to build towards a future where his children aren’t stuck to phone screens all day – a future that is voice-first, not screen-first- Indian-born Tanay Kothari co-founded the AI company in 2021. Its AI-powered, high-accuracy voice-to-text application, Wispr Flow, has been designed to replace typing with natural speech.

Alongside fellow Indian-origin co-founder Sahaj Garg, he played with a hundred ideas before finding the “one,” seeking to build a company on a mission to make interaction with technology feel as natural as talking to a dear friend.

As a multi-time founder, Kothari’s AI software company rose to unimaginable heights late last year. The San Francisco-based Wispr closed $81 million in cumulative Series A funding from investors, including AIX Ventures, Flight Fund, Menlo Ventures, NEA, Notable Capital, and 8VC, pushing its valuation to around $700 million.

But long before consolidating his identity as the co-founder and CEO of Wispr, the AI-powered voice productivity tool, Kothari was already deep into building products as a teenager while studying at Delhi Public School, RK Puram, one of India’s most academically competitive schools. 

His company’s journey to $700 million valuation was only possible because Kothari, as a child, dreamt of building his very own Jarvis from the Iron Man movies.

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While kids mostly lost their calm over Marvel cinematic universe’s titular character, Tanay was obsessed with Tony Stark’s supercomputer voice assistant. The fixation soon triggered a series of endless all-nighters, as Kothari taught himself how to code–something that remained a long-hidden secret from his parents until Google hit him with a cease and desist at 13 years old over one of his many creations.

The Delhi-born, San Francisco-based tech maverick now holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence from Stanford. Three years ago, he was also highlighted in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and to think he’s achieved all this and more in his 20s.