# Umakant Soni

> Umakant Soni is a Bengaluru-based entrepreneur and investor who co-founded Vimagino and pi Ventures, and served as co-founder and founding CEO of ARTPARK at IISc. He is now a co-founder of Bharat1.ai, developing infrastructure for AI research and a proposed AI city. His work connects applied AI, venture creation, research commercialisation and public policy.

- **Role:** Co-founder at Bharat1.ai
- **Organizations:** Bharat1.ai, ARTPARK, AI Foundry, pi Ventures, Vimagino, Wipro, Sweden-India Business Council, Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence
- **Nationality:** Indian
- **Education:** Master of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
- **Known for:** Co-founded the AI-focused venture investment firm pi Ventures., Co-founded ARTPARK, the IISc-associated AI and robotics institution, and served as founding CEO., Nominated by India to the GPAI Innovation and Commercialisation working group.

## Career timeline

- **2001** — Developed a pollution-free helmet for his IIT Kanpur MTech project and pitched a business plan to Narayana Murthy.
- **2008** — Left Wipro to pursue a software product venture.
- **2009** — Co-founded conversational software company Vimagino.
- **2016** — Co-founded pi Ventures with Manish Singhal.
- **2020** — Co-founded ARTPARK and became its founding CEO.
- **2024** — Published opinion columns on AI, education and an AI city.
- **2026** — Co-founded Bharat1.ai with Subhashis Banerjee and Sireesh Kupendra; outlined AI Superpark and AI city plans.

## Achievements

- Co-founded the AI-focused venture investment firm pi Ventures.
- Co-founded ARTPARK, the IISc-associated AI and robotics institution, and served as founding CEO.
- Nominated by India to the GPAI Innovation and Commercialisation working group.
- Named Senior AI Advisor by the Sweden-India Business Council.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Moneycontrol quoted him arguing that India still needs to begin building much of its AI capability.
- **2026-05** — Discussed Bharat1.ai’s human-centred AI approach and Superpark plans at the Inc42 AI Summit.
- **2026-04** — Outlined the need for a domestic AI ecosystem in a Business Standard interview.
- **2026-02** — Bharat1.ai announced plans for an AI research park and a proposed 70-acre AI city in Bengaluru.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soniumakant
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/umakant_soni

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/umakant-soni
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26