Bengaluru-based enterprise AI startup QwikBuild has raised $2.3 million (around Rs 22 crore) in a pre-seed funding round, in one of the freshest deals in startup funding in India this week. The round was led by Japan-listed tech major Globalway, with participation from Blume Ventures, DeVC and Marsshot, alongside angel investors Lalit Keshre, founder of Groww, and Ankit Nagori, CEO of Curefoods.
What QwikBuild builds
Founded in 2025 by ex-Slice executive Pradeep Ayyagari, QwikBuild combines custom software development with AI-driven workflow automation. Its platform lets business teams build applications from scratch, replace legacy systems, or add custom software layers on top of tools from giants such as SAP and Salesforce, without repeatedly relying on engineering teams.
The startup's pitch is about codifying business decisions rather than automating single tasks. Ayyagari's example: a financial services firm must decide which customers to contact, what filters to apply and which scripts to use for different segments. QwikBuild aims to codify the decisions that determine which calls should be made in the first place, after which voice agents or other tools execute the workflow.
Where the money goes
QwikBuild will use the fresh capital primarily for go-to-market activities, including setting up a team in the United States and expanding operations across Southeast Asia. The company says it already serves more than 100 enterprises across India, Southeast Asia, the United States and Dubai, with about 10-12% of clients being large enterprises and about 30% smaller businesses that deploy software without dedicated technology teams.
Alongside the investment, QwikBuild announced a joint venture with Globalway to enter Japan's enterprise software market. The joint venture is expected to become operational by the end of 2026 and will take QwikBuild's platform to Globalway's existing and prospective enterprise customers in Japan.
Ayyagari argues the market is barely tapped: hardly 1% of enterprises have adopted AI, in his view, and the software needed to automate businesses over the next five years will be at least 10 times today's price. That framing sits against a strong quarter for Indian AI funding, which Inc42 puts at $438 million in Q3 2026, up 265% year on year.
Why it matters for founders
QwikBuild's round shows investors still backing enterprise AI that sells a business outcome, not just a model. If you are building in this space, the lesson is to sell the decision your software codifies, prove it with enterprise customers across geographies, and pair the raise with a distribution deal, as QwikBuild did with its Japan joint venture.