Inner Sky Labs, the Indian AI company behind Miko companion robots, has introduced a new suite of foundation models designed to enhance machines’ ability to perceive, act, and operate safely in the physical world. Backed by a fresh $30.9 million funding round, the startup aims to broaden its impact beyond consumer robotics to factories, industrial machines, and government use cases.
- Launched foundation AI models for perception, action, and safety
- Raised ₹300 Cr (~$30.9 M) to expand into enterprise and government sectors
- Platform supports diverse hardware from robots to industrial machinery
What happened
Inner Sky Labs, founded in 2015 by IIT Bombay alumni, has officially launched a suite of foundational AI models that empower machines with the ability to understand their environment, plan physical actions, and enforce safety protocols. These models include Drishti (vision), Shruti (audio), Sparsh (touch), alongside action models Kriya, Prana, Karma, and a safety layer called Kavach. Developed internally over nearly a decade, they represent the company’s evolution from building children’s companion robots under the Miko brand to creating a scalable physical AI platform.
Concurrently, Inner Sky Labs closed a ₹300 Crore funding round (approximately $30.9 million) led by existing investors YourNest Venture Capital and Keshav R Murugesh, with new international backers joining. This round brings the startup’s total capital raised to $100 million. The raised funds will support expanding real-world data collection, enhancing computing infrastructure, and scaling model training for enterprise and government customers requiring sovereign AI solutions.
Why it matters
The launch marks a significant milestone in India’s AI innovation landscape, showcasing advanced capabilities in physical AI that span sensing, movement planning, and safety assurance within a single platform. Inner Sky Labs’ approach to developing proprietary foundation models aims to lower the barrier for manufacturers of robots, industrial machines, and other automated systems to adopt sophisticated AI without the prohibitive costs and complexities of creating their own models from scratch.
As concerns around AI safety and sovereignty intensify globally, the company’s emphasis on built-in, rule-based safety checks (Kavach) and ownership of technology may appeal to governments and enterprises seeking trustworthy AI for critical applications. The hardware-agnostic design promises broad applicability across sectors including manufacturing, security, and mobility, potentially driving adoption beyond consumer robotics into industrial automation and public sector deployments.
What to watch next
Inner Sky Labs plans to invite qualified partners to access its physical AI platform, allowing adoption of individual models or the entire suite. Observers should monitor how quickly and extensively enterprises and governments begin integrating these foundational AI capabilities into existing and next-generation machinery. The company’s roadmap indicates ongoing parameter scaling for the action models, suggesting continued improvements in performance and capability.
Additionally, tracking how Inner Sky Labs balances expansion with maintaining AI safety and sovereignty will be critical, especially as global competition intensifies in AI foundational technologies. The new funding round also sets expectations for accelerated real-world data collection and infrastructure investment, which could further refine and differentiate the startup’s offerings in a growing and competitive Indian and global AI market.