# Karthik Karunakaran

> Karthik Karunakaran is the Chennai-based CEO and co-founder of Mobius Knowledge Services and founder of Xtract.io. His career spans Tata Steel, an education venture and a data services business whose early work included normalizing product information for Epinions around 2002. His public work now focuses on putting AI into business operations and creating employment beyond major cities.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at Mobius Knowledge Services
- **Organizations:** Mobius Knowledge Services, Xtract.io, Fourth R India, Tata Steel
- **Nationality:** Indian
- **Education:** Production engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Management, marketing and finance, XLRI Jamshedpur
- **Known for:** Co-founded Mobius Knowledge Services, whose early projects date to around 2002., Founded Xtract.io, a Mobius spin-off focused on data and workflow automation., Reported growing a bootstrapped Mobius from five to about 1,000 employees by June 2020; this is a historical figure.

## Career timeline

- **Early career** — Worked at Tata Steel in Kolkata and Delhi in quality processes and sales.
- **Before Mobius** — Co-founded Fourth R India, an education venture; later described tutoring CAT candidates to help cover early business costs.
- **2002** — Mobius’s early work included normalizing product data for Epinions.
- **2014** — Described an employee development philosophy built around mutual growth.
- **2020** — Published a four-part framework for organizing office, remote, partner and freelance work.
- **2023** — Joined an alumni panel hearing student startup ideas at NIT Tiruchirappalli’s Genesis event.
- **2024** — Opened Xtract.io’s Chennai office as a spin-off from Mobius.
- **2025** — Spoke and wrote about moving generative AI from proof of concept to production.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Mobius Knowledge Services, whose early projects date to around 2002.
- Founded Xtract.io, a Mobius spin-off focused on data and workflow automation.
- Reported growing a bootstrapped Mobius from five to about 1,000 employees by June 2020; this is a historical figure.
- Mobius reported that CII awarded him Entrepreneur of the Year on October 17, 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Posted about putting AI into customer production workflows and identified eComNeo as Mobius’s retail AI solution portfolio; month derived from the LinkedIn activity timestamp.
- **2026-04** — Sought a Head of Business Development, Partnerships and Marketing for Xtract.io; month derived from the LinkedIn activity timestamp.
- **2025-10** — Received an Entrepreneur of the Year award from CII, as reported by Mobius in December 2025.
- **2025-06** — Published an article about moving generative AI initiatives beyond proof of concept.
- **2025-04** — Discussed bootstrapping, career continuity for women and entrepreneurship in a PM Power Consulting podcast.

## Links

- Website: https://www.mobiusservices.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthik-karunakaran/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/karthik-karunakaran
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23