Vishal Sikka, the former CEO of Infosys, has launched a new startup called Hang Ten Systems with the aim of replacing traditional IT outsourcing with artificial intelligence.
The company secured a $32 million seed round on Wednesday. Mayfield led the investment, with Aramco Ventures providing strategic backing and angel investors participating alongside them.
How the company works
Hang Ten Systems helps large businesses build, update, and run software using AI-driven development and automation. Its board includes Jerry Yang, who co-founded Yahoo.
The firm operates in a sector where legacy IT providers, such as Infosys, are currently partnering with groups like Anthropic and OpenAI to adapt their own services.
Investors are debating whether AI will simply grow the market for these services or change how enterprise software is constructed and delivered entirely.
Some enterprises are already interested in this approach, particularly given Sikka’s background. He spent 12 years building enterprise software at SAP and served on the board of Oracle.
Navin Chaddha, a Managing Partner at Mayfield, told TechCrunch the company began operations about a month ago and already has paying clients.
Current customers include Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius. Sikka, 59, wrote in a blog post that the startup is helping large firms ride the biggest wave of our lifetimes.
Headquartered in the Bay Area, Hang Ten Systems is hiring for delivery, engineering, sales, and leadership roles. Plans include expanding to multiple global locations to meet enterprise demand.
The early team consists of executives who have worked with Sikka for years at SAP, Infosys, and his previous enterprise AI startup, VianAI.
LinkedIn profiles identify co-founders Navin Budhiraja as the CTO, Sanjay Rajagopalan as the chief design officer, and Tao Liu as senior vice president of forward deployed engineering.
History and funding
Sikka stepped down as Infosys chief executive in 2017. He founded VianAI, which emerged from stealth in 2019 with $50 million in seed funding.
That venture later raised $140 million in a 2021 round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Chaddha told TechCrunch that Hang Ten Systems is distinct from VianAI, noting the earlier venture focused on a different market.
VianAI provided enterprise AI applications and analytics tools to help businesses use artificial intelligence for decision-making.
Hang Ten Systems describes itself as an enterprise AI services company built around agentic code generation, reusable AI skills, and domain expertise.
Mayfield backed the new firm because of Sikka’s career experience and the belief that its AI-native model can scale differently from traditional services firms.
Navin Chaddha told TechCrunch that traditional services scale linearly with headcount. He said Hang Ten is built so its leverage grows with every project.
Industry outlook
Hang Ten Systems arrives as investors debate how AI will affect the economics of the IT services industry.
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 stated this week that AI could expand the industry’s addressable market.
Infosys has sought to position AI as an opportunity rather than a threat. The company told investors this month that AI-first services could represent a $300 billion-$400 billion market by 2030.
The debate comes as investors reassess the outlook for traditional IT services firms, with Infosys shares down over 35% this year.
