The enterprise software stack is facing its biggest architectural reset since the shift from desktop to the internet, according to serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia.
The entrepreneur has invested $30 million of his own capital to build Neo, an AI-native workplace platform designed for humans and AI agents to work side by side, he told Mint in an interview on Wednesday.
At the heart of Neo is Turakhia’s belief that simply adding AI features to existing productivity suites will not fundamentally change how enterprises operate. The workplace productivity platform aims to compete with legacy global suites such as and Microsoft, as well as domestic player Zoho.
“Bolting AI onto existing tools is not the right approach, much like bolting the internet onto desktop products was never the right approach,” he said. “Products had to be created as internet-native. Similarly, we believe products will have to be created as AI-native.”
AI-first vision
Neo, Turakhia’s fifth venture after Directi, Radix, Titan and fintech unicorn Zeta, seeks to create a new category of enterprise software by bringing work, knowledge and AI execution into a single integrated platform. The startup plans to begin invite-only external deployments by the end of August before a broader public launch in January next year.
Turakhia said enterprises have struggled to unlock meaningful productivity gains from artificial intelligence because existing software was never designed for humans and to work together.
“For the first time, we now have access to a technology paradigm that truly has the potential to 10X human potential,” Turakhia told Mint. “However, the vast majority of productivity software in the pre-AI era only had some degree of multiplier effect—10%, 15%, or 20%.”
The entrepreneur said he began conceptualizing Neo last year, assembled the founding team about four months ago, and formally started work on the product in April.
Neo unveiled
Neo includes ‘Friday’, an AI assistant and agent layer connected to more than 1,000 external applications; ‘Tasket’ for project management; ‘Studio’ for documents, spreadsheets and diagrams; and ‘Drive’, a collaborative file-sharing workspace.
“We are trying to create a collaborative workspace specifically designed for humans and AI to operate together,” he said.
The platform seeks to centralize organisational knowledge and context so AI agents can operate on information without requiring multiple integrations across software suites.
“Today, collaborative tools are designed for multiple humans to work together. In our view, AI should simply become another participant,” Turakhia said. “Humans should be able to interact with AI agents directly alongside work artefacts, see in real time what AI is doing, approve suggestions, accept changes and contribute meaningfully.”
Go-to-market
Neo will initially target mid-market knowledge-work companies in sectors such as technology, and consulting before expanding across industries.
Unlike Zeta, whose core banking software is sold customer by customer, Neo will adopt a product-led growth strategy.
“Any team can start adopting and using it. If they like it, they can invite other members, guests and users, and continue growing from there,” Turakhia said, describing the approach as a classic “land-and-expand” model.
Despite building a global AI product, Turakhia said India will remain the centre of gravity for engineering and product development.
“Every company that I have built has been a global company, with the centre of gravity for product and engineering development located in India. Neo is no different,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that India still trails Silicon Valley in one key area—deep integration of AI into everyday work.
“In Silicon Valley, most individuals are deeply integrated into using AI for almost everything. That cultural shift has not yet fully taken place in India,” Turakhia said. “That is probably the biggest gap I see in , although the gap is closing quickly.”
Neo will remain model-agnostic, allowing enterprises to choose among proprietary and open-source large language models rather than building its own foundation model.
“Our role is to help enterprises choose the right model for the right job while balancing accuracy and cost,” Turakhia said.
Self-funded bet
The entrepreneur said he chose to fund Neo himself because of both conviction and precedent.
“Directi, Titan, Radix and Zeta were all initially funded with my own capital. Outside of Zeta, I have never raised financial capital from external investors in any of my ventures,” he said. “Why dilute equity at the beginning when I have both the capital and the conviction?”
Turakhia added that self-funding also imposes greater discipline.
“Using your own capital acts as an important check and constraint, ensuring capital is deployed prudently.”
The $30 million commitment, he said, should fund Neo for more than two years, giving the company sufficient runway before it needs to consider external fundraising.
“The bulk of the capital will go into two areas: engineering and go-to-market. Those are the two primary buckets where we will spend money, which is not very different from any other early-stage enterprise platform,” he said.