Exclusive: Mello In Talks With Peak XV, DeVC To Raise Funding

SUMMARY

The startup is looking to raise $2.5 Mn (about INR 22 Cr) from the investors, the sources said, adding that the final funding amount may change

Founded earlier this year by Ajit Pol and Akshay Jhanwar, Mello is an AI-powered app that lets its users speak to bots

The app is currently live on Google Play Store and has over 5K downloads so far

Pune-based AI companion platform Mello, which is currently in stealth mode, is in advanced discussions with Peak XV Partners and DeVC to raise seed funding, sources told Inc42.

The startup is looking to raise $2.5 Mn (about INR 22 Cr) from the investors, the sources said, adding that the final funding amount may change.

Peak XV Partners and DeVC declined to comment on the development. Questions sent to Mello’s cofounders didn’t elicit any response till the time of publishing this story.

Founded earlier this year by former Flipkart and Lead Scholar executive Ajit Pol and former CRED executive Akshay Jhanwar, Mello is an AI-powered app that lets its users speak to bots. The startup is under stealth mode currently, with the LinkedIn profiles of the cofounders not mentioning its name.

However, the app is currently live on Google Play Store and has over 5K downloads so far. It claims to offer engaging and “emotionally supportive” conversations to users looking to converse with AI bots for companionship.

“Friendship in small things, emotional support and sometimes a little fun – you will find everything here with AI. Mello is a chat app where you can choose an AI friend according to your mood and talk from the heart,” reads the app’s description on Google Play Store.

A quick check of the platform reveals that it has 12 AI bots, each with an Indian name, that can converse in either Hindi or Punjabi. With this, Mello is eyeing vernacular audiences.

Gen Zs Looking For A Companion

The development coincides with a growing number of Gen Zs using AI bots as their companion to streamline daily tasks and have simple daily life conversations as well as emotional interactions.

As per a recent survey of 2,000 Gen Zs by digital companion platform Joi AI, 83% respondents said they believe they could develop a meaningful connection with a chatbot. About 75% of respondents said that AI companions could completely replace human relationships.

OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman, in a recent podcast with Theo Von, also said that most users, especially youngsters, talk to ChatGPT about very personal issues, like a therapist or life coach, seeking opinions on relationships and life choices.

It is this audience which Mello is trying to tap. The development comes at a time when there is a growing investor interest towards startups building new products and services by employing AI.

Earlier this month, Inc42 exclusively reported that GreyLabs AI, a GenAI-powered platform for speech and text analytics, raised $10 Mn in a round led by Elevation Capital. Additionally, B2B agentic AI marketing venture Grexa AI also secured $1.8 Mn in a round led by Offline Club founder and iSeed partner Utsav Somani.

Multiple startups, across sectors such as fintech, healthtech, SaaS, autotech and consumer services, have been introducing conversational AI bots on their platform to offer assistance to customers, thereby removing human element and saving costs.

As a result, India’s GenAI ecosystem has grown rapidly in the past few years. As per Inc42 data, homegrown AI platforms raised more than $1.5 Bn in funding between 2022 and Q1 2025. Overall, India’s GenAI market is expected to become a $17 Bn opportunity by 2030.