Meet Pranjali Awasthi, a remarkable 16-year-old tech prodigy who built a ₹100 crore AI startup after learning coding at just age 7. Born in India and raised partly in Florida, USA, Pranjali’s journey proves that age is never a barrier to groundbreaking success.
At 7 years old, her father—an engineer—introduced her to computer science, believing it should be taught alongside other school programs. By age 11, when her family moved to Florida, her passion for coding and competitive math flourished. At just 13, she began interning at Florida International University’s research labs, working 20 hours weekly on machine learning projects while attending high school virtually due to the pandemic.
In 2020, when OpenAI released ChatGPT-3, Pranjali realized she could use it to make extracting and summarizing research data easier. As a research intern, she understood how difficult finding precise information on search engines was. This problem-solving thought laid the seed for her company.
At 15, she launched Delv.AI’s beta on Product Hunt. The AI-powered research platform helps researchers extract and summarize information from academic papers, PDFs, and large datasets. During her Demo Day presentation, she received her first investment through On Deck and Village Global, raising $45,000 initially. Today, Delv.AI is valued at nearly ₹100 crore (around $12 million), making her one of the youngest founders to build a fast-growing AI startup.
Now 18, Pranjali graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology and co-founded Salshy, an AI email assistant she calls “ChatGPT with hands”. Her inspiring journey motivates thousands of young minds to dream bigger and start earlier.
FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: When did Pranjali start coding?
Pranjali began learning coding at age 7 when her engineer father introduced her to computer science. She wrote her first program at 7, built full-stack apps at 12, and mastered ML at 13.
Q2: What is Delv.AI?
Delv.AI is an AI-powered research platform founded by Pranjali at 15, valued at ₹100 crore. It helps researchers quickly extract and summarize information from academic papers, PDFs, and large datasets.
Q3: How much funding did Pranjali raise?
Pranjali initially raised $45,000 from On Deck and Village Global after her Demo Day presentation. She later secured $450,000 in funding with a team of 10 people scaling her company rapidly.