Aakash Anand Announces New Venture Unikon.ai, Bags $2M Seed Funding The startup is currently operating from Gurugram, India, and plans to expand its services to the US within three months
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Entrepreneur Aakash Anand, known for his D2C and personal care startup Bella Vita Organic, announced the launch of his new venture, Unikon.ai. The innovative peer-to-peer networking platform has attracted USD 2 million in seed funding from an impressive array of entrepreneurs and influencers.
Anand has co-founded the venture with Palash Arneja and Sumit Jha.
The funding round raised capital from Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart, Dholakia Ventures, Vishesh Khurana of Shiprocket, Nitin Jain and Vasant Sridhar of OfBusiness, and Gaurav Khatri of Noise. Along with these investors, various influencers significantly contributed such as Tanmay Bhatt, Sharan Hegde (Finance with Sharan), Raj Shamani, Ganeshprasad (Thinkschool), Arjun Vaidya, Shlok Shrivastava (Techburner), and Rahul Malodia (Business Coach) also contributed.
According to Anand, Unikon.ai is an open-source platform focused on eliminating the barriers to accessibility for a wider audience. On his platform, customers can create their profiles and set rates for audio calls, video calls, or direct messages. Depending on their professional background and rates, users can connect with others for communication within 24-48 hours or even instantly.
The goal of the company is to facilitate professional and personal networking by enabling a wide audience to seek guidance from industry working professionals or find support for issues like anxiety from experienced Mental Health professionals.
The startup is currently operating from Gurugram, India, and plans to expand its services to the US within three months.
Anand's previous startup Bella Vita Organic was founded in 2018 and later acquired by Ananta Capital, backed by the Taparia family of Famy Care Group. Anand now leads Unikon.ai alongside co-founders Palash Arneja and Sumit Jha. Arneja, the Chief Operating Officer, is a seasoned chartered accountant, while Jha, the Chief Technology Officer, was formerly the CTO of Zecpe, acquired by Cashfree Payments in 2023.
Key features of Unikon.ai include acting as a space for discussions on topics ranging from stress management to work tips and health advice; allowing users to ask video questions and receive personalized advice, with AI matching them to the right experts from over 1,500 categories; enabling users to host virtual events, webinars, and workshops to share knowledge and earn money; and acting as a personalized news feed that connects users with relevant content and experts in their areas of interest.
