Ex-Infosys boss Vishal Sikka raises $32M to upend IT services

The News

Vishal Sikka, the 59-year-old former chief executive of Infosys, has returned to the startup arena with Hang Ten Systems, a Bay Area company that wants enterprises to build and run software using AI agents rather than armies of contract coders. The venture closed a $32 million seed round on 24 June 2026, led by Mayfield with a strategic cheque from Aramco Ventures and a clutch of angel investors. No valuation was disclosed.

The pitch is direct: Hang Ten Systems helps companies "continuously build, modify, and operate software" through agentic code generation, reusable AI skills and packaged domain expertise. Sikka has assembled a senior bench around him, with Navin Budhiraja as chief technology officer, Sanjay Rajagopalan as chief design officer and Tao Liu leading forward-deployed engineering. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang sits on the board.

Though it launched only around a month before the announcement, the firm already counts Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius among its customers. It is hiring across delivery, engineering, sales and leadership as it plans a global rollout from its California base.

Why It Matters

This is not Sikka's first swing at reinventing software. After 12 years at SAP and a seat on Oracle's board, he founded VianAI, which emerged in 2019 with a $50 million seed and later pulled in $140 million from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in 2021. Hang Ten Systems sharpens that thesis into a frontal assault on the labour-heavy IT services model that built his own reputation.

The timing is pointed. The traditional services industry bills by the person-month, growing revenue by adding headcount. If agentic tools can write, modify and operate code with a fraction of the people, the economics that underpin decades of outsourcing start to wobble. The last time a senior insider broke ranks to bet against his former employer's core model, markets paid attention. A founder who once ran a $10 billion-plus services firm now arguing that the model is obsolete is a louder signal than any analyst note.

That Aramco Ventures joined the round also hints at where the demand sits. Heavy-industry and energy giants, not just software houses, are the buyers Hang Ten is courting.

Indian Angle

For India, this story is uncomfortably personal. Sikka ran Infosys from 2014 to 2017, and the company he is now implicitly challenging anchors a software-services export sector worth well over $250 billion a year and employing roughly five million people. The bench-and-billing model he is targeting is the engine room of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.

The Indian majors are not standing still. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro have each launched AI delivery platforms of their own, and Nasscom has spent the past year pushing members towards outcome-based pricing rather than headcount. Hang Ten's arrival validates that pivot while raising the stakes: a well-funded, AI-native challenger founded by an industry veteran is exactly the disruption Indian boards have been war-gaming.

There is a talent dimension too. India supplies a large share of the world's enterprise engineers, and a shift towards agentic development reshapes which skills command a premium. Roles tied to AI orchestration, skills design and domain modelling could gain, while routine maintenance coding faces compression. For the millions of engineers in the services pipeline, the message is to move up the value chain before the chain moves on.

FAQ

What is Hang Ten Systems?

It is a Bay Area startup founded by former Infosys chief Vishal Sikka that helps enterprises build, modify and operate software using AI agents, reusable skills and domain expertise rather than large teams of manual developers.

How much did it raise and from whom?

Hang Ten Systems closed a $32 million seed round on 24 June 2026, led by Mayfield with a strategic investment from Aramco Ventures and participation from angel investors. No valuation was made public.

Why should Indian IT firms care?

The agentic model threatens the headcount-led billing that drives India's $250 billion-plus services export sector. It reinforces the industry's shift to outcome-based pricing and pressures engineers to move towards higher-value AI and domain roles.

Who else is involved in the company?

Co-founders include Navin Budhiraja as CTO, Sanjay Rajagopalan as chief design officer and Tao Liu in forward-deployed engineering. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang sits on the board. Early customers include Siemens Gamesa and Fresenius.

Where can I read the original announcement?

The news was first reported by TechCrunch, whose coverage is linked in the attribution below.

This story was reported by TechCrunch. Read the full original coverage at TechCrunch.