In-cab technology provider Motive is among upstarts that are following major tech corporations like Meta Platforms and Microsoft Corp. into India. (Sumit Dayal/Bloomberg News)
Fleet management startup Motive Technologies plans to more than double its India head count, joining a rising number of artificial intelligence unicorns from Silicon Valley expanding in the South Asian country.
The San Francisco-based startup plans to hire more than 300 people for its AI, product and engineering teams at its Bangalore development center over the next two years, CEO Shoaib Makani said. Valued at $2.85 billion in a 2022 funding round, Motive’s tools help fleet operators manage their workers, vehicles and expenditures.
Motive is among upstarts that are following major tech corporations like Meta Platforms and Microsoft Corp. into India, betting on one of the world’s deepest AI engineering pools to speed up product cycles and accelerate innovation. The southern city of Bangalore in particular is emerging as a hot spot as the tech industry spends billions of dollars to add facilities and recruit AI workers in the world’s most populous country.
Makani
“The AI talent density in Bangalore rivals the Bay Area,” said Makani, a Google and Khosla Ventures alum. “If you aren’t in Bangalore, you are at a strategic disadvantage.”
Bangalore, India’s foremost tech hub, will house a third of Motive’s global R&D head count. Motive, whose 120,000 customers include the likes of FedEx Corp. and Halliburton Co., has about 250 employees in the country. FedEx ranks No. 2 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 34 on the TT Top 100 logistics companies list. Halliburton ranks No. 7 on the TT Top 100 private carriers list.
AI will have a cumulative global economic impact of $19.9 trillion through 2030, bolstering growth across the planet, according to a recent study by market research firm IDC. However, a talent shortage threatens to slow down its adoption — one in two AI jobs in the U.S. will be unfilled by 2027, and India will be a million people short of skilled AI talent by that year, according to a recent report from Bain & Co.
Unicorn Abbyy Software, which specializes in AI-powered document automation, last week opened an R&D center in Bangalore with about 65 positions and plans to double that over the next year. The region’s talented workforce offers tremendous opportunities for startups, Ulf Persson, CEO of the Milpitas, Calif.-based company, said in an announcement.
Mike Freeze discusses the technician shortage with Amanda Schuier of Jetco Delivery and the Technology & Maintenance Council. Tune in above or by going to RoadSigns.ttnews.com.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based enterprise AI startup Glean Technologies, valued at $4.6 billion, had about 100 engineers in its Bangalore development center last year, with plans to triple the head count this year. Other unicorns like ElevenLabs and AlphaSense have also opened research centers in India.
Next week, Norwegian AI company Cognite AS, which builds AI solutions for the world’s largest energy corporations, will open a Bangalore facility with about 100 positions, including roles in AI and machine learning.
